Power Rangers Revelation
by White Tiger
Summary: When Earth comes under attack from a powerful force bent on conquering the universe, it will take the combined strength and intelligence of seven Rangers to stop it.
1. Calling for a Hero

"Thank you, Rangers. You've all done a great service to the universe."

"Don't mention it, bro."

He looked at the circle of young men around him. They had given so much, gone through so many sacrifices... _'Of course,'_ he reminded himself. _'It's why they're Red Rangers.'_

"Well, I guess it's time to say goodbye again. May the Power protect you all." He tapped fists with the others, a final parting and ode to a Ranger tradition born long ago, and began walking away. The sun beat down on his sweat covered brow. All the machinery NASADA had around certainly wasn't helping the heat, even if it was close to a mile away. It occurred to him that he hadn't had a drink since before they had left early that afternoon. His jeep came into view around the corner of a building, water bottle luckily still laying on the dashboard. He sunk into the driver's seat and began to guzzle the precious liquid, pausing to reflect on what had just happened.

The sound of engines brought him out of his reverie. He watched as a yellow rover rolled out through the gate, followed by a motorcycle, an SUV, and a red sport car. Finally, the Astro Megaship Mark II blasted off to who-knows-where to defend the universe again. His eyes remained glued to the sky for several minutes before his cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

__

"How'd it go?"

He sighed. "Good. Serpentera's destroyed. The rookie got 'im."

__

"Alone?"

"Yeah. It was pretty low on power. Couldn't have killed an ant." Silence.

__

"You miss it, don't you?"

"It was a part of me, Kim. It was my life."

__

"I know, Tommy. I know. Just come home."

******************************

"Status?"

"75 percent charged."

"How much longer?"

"Not long. Perhaps another day."

"That's not good enough."

Pause. "Perhaps I can speed things up if we bypass some non-mandatory systems."

Brown eyes scanned a data readout. They were running out of time....

"Can we bring the subjects in?"

"Not all. The computer's having trouble locating some of them. Besides, I'm not sure if that would be a good idea, at least not now. I'm bypassing the secondary generator. Give it a couple of hours."

A small buzz sounded from a nearby console. "Scanners picking up something. We have to hurry."

******************************

Jason Lee couldn't help but grin slightly as he negotiated the mild traffic down one of California's interstates. The vibration of his motorcycle's engine underneath him gave a slight feeling of power as he dodged between two cars and into another lane. The past year had definitely been his time for taking risks. Even as a Ranger he hadn't been so bold. Of course, being the team leader made you realize you weren't invincible faster than you liked.

He had recovered from the drain the Gold Ranger Powers had put him through about a year earlier, much faster than he should have, according to what T.J. had said to him after scanning through the databanks on KO-35. Once he was back on his feet, Jason found that he had apparently developed a bit of an attitude in some situations. Tough talk apparently spared him more fighting than negotiating sometimes. A smirk couldn't be stopped from curving his lips at the thought. _'Guess Maligor's little adjustment was good for something after all.'_

A gas station parking space welcomed Jason as he pulled in and shut the engine off. He was absolutely starving, and a little snack before getting back to his apartment would probably help ease the hunger pangs, not to mention lower his room service bill. A tingling sensation began burning in the pit of his stomach. _'Man, must be worse than I thought.'_ Then it started to get stronger. _'Wait a second....that's not hunger...that feels like....'_ The thought remained unfinished as the first Red Ranger blacked out completely.

******************************

"Subject One acquired."

"He looks a little beat up."

"The generator's still a little low on power. Don't worry. There's no injury."

"Can we bring the others in?"

"Perhaps. I'll try for Number Two now."

"Be careful. We can't risk this being detected."

"Don't worry. This one's been dormant for a long time."

"Alright. Begin."

******************************

Music pumped in the background, a driving, hard rock beat. Several people crowded around a stage as neon lights flashed around the whole room. A smooth dancer moved to the music as he nearly bounced around the stage like his limbs were made of rubber. People cheered as they watched him spin, jump, kick, and do things that were considered impossible for someone without a well-trained body to pull off. Applause sounded as the dancer stopped his routine with the music, gracefully bowed to his audience, then walked offstage with a spring in his step.

No one saw him come back.

******************************

She took a deep breath. It was good to be back home. California was warm, but definitely a lot less humid than her last place of residence. _'Not to mention a lot more predictable,'_ she thought with a grin. A gasp of pain escaped her as a sharp sensation whipped through her stomach. _'Okay, maybe not...'_

Nobody was around to watch her vanish.

******************************

It was almost eleven o'clock at night when he finally left the dojo, locking the door on his way out and still stretching his neck from the endless hours of paperwork. "Figures I get stuck with the paperwork on a weekend," he mumbled to himself, running a hand through his dark hair. The moon illuminated the street, giving it an almost surreal effect. "Oh well. At least I won't have to deal with any traffic." He pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and got ready to unlock the door of his car.

Those keys weren't used that night.

******************************

__

"Subjects One through Four have been obtained."

"Good. What of Five and Six?"

"We only have enough power remaining to transport one of them."

"Not good. We need them both as soon as possible."

"I'll transport Five. Six is a quick learner."

"Are you sure? He might not be so receptive to this."

"Trust me."

Sigh. "Very well. Acquisition of Subject Five in twenty standard minutes."

******************************

Kimberly Hart Oliver sighed. It was almost eight o'clock in the morning and Tommy still hadn't gotten home. Sure, NASADA was a long way, but he should have arrived the night before. She checked her watch. _'Well, guess I'll have to hope he's home when I get back from work.'_ She grabbed her purse and began heading out to her car.

Kimberly Hart Oliver didn't make it to work that day.

******************************

He couldn't see anything in the pitch blackness. He couldn't feel anything. And, truth be told, he didn't really _know_ anything at the moment. 

Wait. He did know something.

It was **cold**.

Wherever he was, it was freezing. It almost felt like ice had begun collecting on his skin. Hold on. Feel? He thought about that for a moment. Yes, he decided, he really could feel. It was sort of distant, but he could definitely feel.

"Are they ready?" The voice was distant and very drowned out, almost like he was hearing it from underwater. He tried to strain his ears, maybe move towards it. Something about the cold was keeping him where he was. Even his head couldn't move.

"As ready as they'll ever be." He couldn't hear what else was said. What was going on?

"Alright. Bring them out."

He felt heat now. It was building up all around him. The icy feel on his skin was replaced by a soothing, warm sensation. Something felt like it was falling off of his skin. _'Did they really ice me over?'_ He found he could move his neck a little bit and craned it to look down at himself. Nope. No ice anywhere. Weird.

The warmth continued through his whole body, bringing all feeling back to him. A few movements later he decided everything at least seemed perfectly alright.

"Man, and I thought I'd seen some space-age stuff. That was just plain funky."

Wait a second! Could it really be him?

"Zack?"

He turned to see where the voice had come from. His jaw nearly dropped in surprise.

"Jase?"

There he was, the original Black Ranger, Zack Taylor. Not much had changed about him, although he had cut his hair short again and was certainly dressed a bit plainer than his high school years.

Jason nodded. "Yeah, it's me." He took a look around. "Any idea where we are?"

"Certainly not Kansas."

Both former Rangers had only heard that voice a few times, but they certainly knew it. "Rocky?"

The Hispanic man walked slowly up to the two, surveying the area around him. "Uh-huh. And like I said, this is definitely not home."

"Great, so who's abducted us now?"

All three men looked around in shock. "Kimberly? They got you, too?"

The brunette nodded. "Whoever 'they' are."

"Let's hope they're friendly." Aisha Campbell made her way into the group.

"Man, talk about weird," Zack stated as he looked around. "This place almost looks like the old Command Center."

"That's because it is."

Old instincts kicked in, and the five dropped into defensive stances as they turned to the new voice. Jason and Rocky soon dropped theirs, however, when they saw who the speaker was.

"Trey!" they both exclaimed.

The Triforian Prince slowly crossed to them. "Yes. It's been a long time, Rangers. I'm afraid that I have been forced to seek your aid once again."

"Excuse me, somebody wanna clue us in here?" Aisha indicated herself and the remaining two. "First off by telling us who you are."

Trey took a deep breath. "As you may have guessed already, my name is Trey. I am the Prince of the planet Triforia, a planet quite far from Earth, which is what makes my situation more dire, but I will get to that soon enough. I am also the Gold Zeo Ranger." Sadness etched itself into his features. "Well, I _was_ the Gold Zeo Ranger. Those powers are gone now."

"What happened to them?" Jason knew what it was like to have the Power taken from him, and he knew by the look on Trey's face that the Gold Ranger was definitely not inactive of his own free will.

"Triforia has been invaded. By whom I do not know, but their forces are far too strong for us to hold out for long. They damaged the Golden Zeo Crystal beyond repair."

"So why'd you come here?" Aisha was definitely confused. "If your planet is under attack, why come to Earth for help? And most of all, why _us_?"

"Yeah, Trey. We're retired. As in out, gone, kaput, sayonara, adios, the number you have dialed is no longer in service..."

Kimberly lightly elbowed Rocky. "I think he gets the picture." She turned to the prince. "So why _did_ you come here?"

"Because the invasion force is beginning to spread outward. The attack on Eltar has already begun. Earth is the next target."

"Hold up." Zack stepped forward. "Why can't you tell the other Rangers about this? They're the ones protecting Earth, not us. Not anymore. Hate to say it, man, but I don't think I want Ranger business screwin' with my life again."

"Because we needed the team that has had the most experience in battle as Rangers. Therefore, the original Rangers of Earth seemed the best option."

"But we're not original team members," Aisha stated, indicating herself and Rocky.

"Billy is still on Aquitar. That system would have proven too dangerous under current circumstances and its proximity to Eltar. As for the Ranger called Trini, the information I managed to gain from the archives said that she is..."

"Dead," Kimberly almost whispered. Her best friend's death was still a fresh tragedy in her heart, probably the other Rangers' as well. Everything just seemed so....bleak...without the young Asian woman's advice to turn to. She looked up, straight at Trey. "She died after protecting the planet and nobody knew a damned thing about it."

Jason put a hand on her shoulder. "We knew that's what it was like, Kimberly. It was the risk we took." His eyes met with Trey's. "And the risk I'm going to take again."

"For Trini," Kimberly whispered, nodding her agreement.

Aisha relocated herself next to the brunette. "We're like a family, and I won't let my sister go through anything without me."

Rocky sighed. "I know this is probably gonna come back to bite me where it counts..." He looked at Aisha. "but I've never let a friend down before, and I'm not about to start now."

Everyone looked at Zack, the only one who hadn't made a definite decision. The former Black Ranger shook his head. "Man, you all are crazy. I mean look at yourselves! Do you remember what being Rangers did to us?" His eyes met Kimberly's. "And what it did to Tommy and you? Do you really want that to happen again? It's insane!"

"Zack, please," Kimberly almost pleaded. "We need you on the team. If Trey is right, then we're going to need all the help we can get."

"Don't you remember what it was like, bro?" Jason asked. "Yeah, we had some rough times, but we pulled through. No matter what Rita or Zedd threw at us, we made it out and in one piece. Nothing stopped us." He paused, waiting for Zack to respond. When his friend was silent, he continued. "You used to be the energy for all of us, Zack. You loved life more than any of us combined. Don't tell me you lost that."

The tension in the air was almost suffocating. Zack battled himself inside. _'What if something goes wrong? We were lucky then. We were teenagers, no idea of what it was like. By the time we figured out that people died, it was too late. So many people got hurt...I don't think I can take being responsible for that again....But we saved so many at the same time. We were one of the most feared teams in the galaxy...no, the **universe**.'_ He looked at Jason and Kimberly. _'We got so close...we were all such great friends...But Billy and Trini...gone....nobody remembers what they did but us...When we die, will people know what we've done?'_

His thoughts were interrupted by an alarm echoing throughout the chamber. Trey hurried to a console and punched a few controls. "There's a battalion attacking people in the city." He turned to the group, opening a case that he had pulled from the console. "A choice must be made now."

Four sets of eyes landed on Zack, each of them pleading in their own way. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, begging to God that this was the right decision. His eyes met with the group. "What are we waiting for? Let's kick some monster butt!"

Trey opened the case, revealing five small wrist devices. "These morphers have been modified from the design of my own Zeonizer. The Powers will create any handheld weapon you desire, up to a certain extent."

The five each took one of the wrist morphers and clamped them on with the steel band attached to them. Jason looked to Trey. "Can you teleport us to the scene?"

The former Gold Ranger nodded and moved to another console. "Teleporting now. May the Power protect you."

Jason studied the group, then his morpher. _'Single activation trigger switch. Simple enough. Let's just see what these things can do.'_ "Let's do it, guys." He thrust his arm up, just like he had done when he had possessed the Zeo Powers, then brought it down and slammed his finger on the activator. "IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"

In five intense streaks of gold, they were gone.

******************************

The first thing they noticed was the smell of smoke and fire. It was stronger than they remembered. Or was it because they had been out for so long?

"Whoa, cool costumes."

Rocky was right on that count. Their armor was black all over, only the form of it over their bodies betraying gender. The helmets were basic, but there was something about them....

"Morphologic armor," Adam stated. He had manipulated his helmet's design to display tusks similar to those on his old Black Ranger uniform. The others focused, altering their appearance to seem more like their original costumes. 

"Alright, now that we know who's who, let's get to work." Jason took a quick scan of the surroundings. They were on a building top. Screams of terror floated up to them from below. "Let's see what's over there." The five of them sprinted to the edge and checked the scene.

"Looks like quite the welcoming committee," Kimberly quipped.

The sight before them was intimidating. Hundreds of animal-like creatures ran through the streets, harassing any civilian they came across. A large, buffed-up monster similar to a spider walking on two of its legs was menacing a family near the remains of a building.

"I hate spiders," Zack growled, clenching his fist. As he did, energy swirled around his hand, coalescing into a weapon.

"Zack, your hand!" Aisha pointed to the form he held.

It was his Power Axe.

Without a blink, he moved it up into Cannon Mode. A targeting reticule popped up and a small rocket armed itself in the barrel. He took aim just behind the spider monster.

"Lock and load."

The rocket was fired, leaving a trail of smoke as it flew towards its target. Its resulting explosion sent the creature flying into the rubble just behind the family. All five of the Rangers could hear it growl in rage as six of its arms tossed the rubble off of it and looked straight at them.

"Mess with somebody your own size, bug-brain!" Aisha shouted.

"And who's going to stop me?" the monster challenged.

"We don't have time for chit chat," Jason came in over the helmet comms. "Rocky, Aisha, you two see if you can keep that family safe enough to get out of here. Kim, Zack, you're with me." He concentrated, bringing a clenched fist up in front of his helmet. In a few moments, a sharper rendition of his old Power Sword appeared. "Let's go!"

The five leaped down, breaking apart in a swirl of attacking limbs. Rocky and Aisha avoided fighting as much as they could, dodging attacks to get to the family stranded amidst the hellish creations. There was only one problem.

These things were _fast_.

Each time Rocky dodged an attack, another one would come straight at him. Several blows came to his midsection before he managed to roll out of the creature's way and continue moving. A centipede-looking beast came barreling at him, tiny needle-point legs moving like lightning. He felt the legs of one of the things similar to an octopus grab him and hurl him at the insect-like creation. Hundreds of points of white hot pain lanced through his body as the centipede rammed against his armor again and again before he even hit the ground.

__

'These things are really starting to piss me off,' Rocky mentally growled. _'Alright, if they don't want to fight fair...'_ The centipede leaned its body over him, preparing to continue the torture. Rocky clenched a fist and pictured a weapon forming. Seconds later, a multi-bladed staff lanced upward and shredded the centipede, splattering yellowish entrails all over the general area. Rocky back rolled and stood up. He saw Aisha standing near the family, trying to hold off several beasts with some kind of arm cannon. Little did she know a rhino-hybrid was charging in from her left side, getting ready to quite possibly impale her with its horn.

In a burst of speed, Rocky hacked and slashed his way through the crowd of brutes with the blades of his staff spinning at full force. Aisha noticed him coming and cranked up the power on her cannon, widening her range to make the pathway easier.

__

'I'm not going to get there in time!' There was no way he could match that thing's speed. It didn't have anything blocking his progress. _'If I could just get out of this crowd!'_ Then an idea came to him. He whirled, knocking a wolf-like monster on the head with the blunt end of his staff, then leaped off of its shoulders and back flipped over Aisha. The rhino beast came in view just behind her. Rocky sent a mental command and merged the blades of his staff into a large one at the end, then slammed it into the creature's skull and levered it through the thing's face. A roar of pain and the splattering of black goo signaled the thing's death.

"Nice move," Aisha complimented, firing more blasts into the crowd.

Even though no one could see it, Rocky grinned. "Still got it." He turned to the family. "Let's get you out of here!"

"Not so fast, you little cretin!" The spider-beast that was menacing the family when they came in appeared. "They're my supper!"

Rocky began spinning his staff's blades again, but before he could use them, a huge blast of energy impacted on the monster's back, leaving a gaping hole that oozed green. Zack stepped over the thing's body, axe in hand.

"I **hate** spiders!"

Before Rocky could even smile at the comment, they were nearly overrun by the monsters around them. "We could really use another one of those rockets right now, Zack!" he yelled.

"Can't," the man panted back. "Out of ammo." He was swinging his axe with wild abandon, sending varying colors of blood and just as varied an assortment of limbs flying. 

"Heads up!" A petite blur launched into the group. Kimberly used her gymnastic prowess to move among the monsters and deliver precise blows with the daggers she had morphed onto her hands and feet. Jason drove his way in soon after, sword moving like a blender on a power surge.

"Family's out of here," Jason gasped. Everybody knew what that meant.

Party time.

Aisha grabbed her cannon and split it in two, attaching the halves to her arms. Several bursts of charged ammunition pounded into and through her targets. Anything that got through the barrage was met with a blast of electric lightning and burned to a crisp.

Zack had morphed his axe into two smaller axes, using them in a tornado spin and attacking things at head, body, and leg height. A frog monster slammed its legs into him and kicked him several feet away. The Ranger was on his feet and in the air in seconds, bringing both axes down and slicing the thing cleanly into thirds.

Kimberly had given up on the small blades on her body and morphed herself a bladed version of her Power Bow, using its ends to rip into several monsters. Whenever she got the chance she fired an arrow that was charged with explosive energy into a crowd.

Jason and Rocky fought back to back. Both used their bladed weapons and martial arts skills to keep most of the beasts at bay, but it was quickly becoming a losing battle. "There's too many of them!" Rocky shouted over the roar of combat.

And just like that, the army of destruction around them disappeared.

******************************

Trey froze. "Not good. They're going to need help, and fast."

"Subject Six has been acquired. I'm bringing him out of stasis now."

******************************

"I don't suppose all that hardware's for making coleslaw," Rocky joked.

Standing before them, nearly six and a half feet tall, was a monster that looked like a mutated ant that had made a visit to the local armory. It wore a long trench coat with small daggers of every description decorating it, carried several blasters in its four arms, and a seemingly large amount of voltage was running between its antennae.

The monster cackled. It was a shrill sound that reminded some of the Rangers of Skelerena, the hyena monster Zedd had sent them against years ago.

"Prepare to die, you meddling miscreants!"

It charged at them, firing multiple blasts at the Rangers. They all dodged and regrouped behind the monster as it turned around to face them again.

Aisha merged her cannons again. "Nifty use of alliteration there. I was almost scared."

Kimberly loaded her bow with three energy arrows. "One big can of Raid coming right up."

Zack managed to charge a small bit of energy into a rocket as Jason and Rocky morphed their weapons into energy rifles. As soon as Jason shouted "FIRE!" the air sizzled with energy. Smoke covered the ant-monster. Satisfied at the damage done, the Rangers lowered their weapons.

Shrill laughter dropped their spirits. "Is that the best you've got?"

"I don't believe it."

"No way!"

"That's impossible!"

The monster was still there! Not even a scratch!

"Now it's my turn!" the beast laughed. It brought all of its arms to bear. The Rangers could hear the weapons charging.

"Everybody move!" Jason shouted. They broke off to the sides...

...but it was too late. The monster's blasts hammered into the Rangers, sending them crashing to the ground. Several groans of pain came from them all. They tried to get up, only to have their muscles fail and let them collapse in a heap once again.

"You're pathetic!" the ant monster spat. "Five humans trying to stop the forces of the great Sektarus! Hah! Now you will pay the price for your insolence!" It aimed its blasters at the fallen figures. The hum of their charging filled the air again.

Several thoughts ran through each Ranger's head at that moment. Each one knew that they would die, but none of them figured it would be in their first battle against an invading force. This one just seemed too strong for them. Every individual on that team felt the weight of what was about to happen.

Jason: _'I can't believe this! We can't lose! We're the Power Rangers! We can't let evil win!'_

Aisha: _'After all the good we've done...it ends like this? Beaten so easily?'_

Zack: _'I knew Trey made the wrong decision. We've been gone too long, and now...now we pay with our lives.'_

Rocky: _'No! I'm not going to die like this! There's no chance! We can't let him beat us!'_

Kimberly: _'It can't be...not like this...Tommy...I'm so sorry. I love you.'_

The monster's laughter echoed in their ears. They tried to get up, tried to make something move. Anything but this. Anything but death. They heard the weapons charge.

Then they heard the weapons fire.

And then they heard something else.

"Leave my friends alone, you dirt-sucking bug!"

They all looked up to find a form that every one of them recognized attacking the ant mercilessly. Jason was the first to struggle to his feet, followed by Kimberly.

"Tommy," they both gasped. There he was, fighting his heart out. A sword had morphed into his hand, and he was using the blade like it was an extension of his own hand.

"We have to help him," Aisha grunted, pulling her cannon back up.

"How?" Rocky asked. "We threw everything we had at that thing and it didn't even cut into him!"

"Frontal shield," Zack said. "I scanned it. Those antennae produce some kind of personal shield. If we can turn him around or cut those off, we should be able to kill it."

"Let's do it." Jason's words were more forceful this time. Seeing one of his best friends back in action gave him a burst of energy. "I'll help Tommy out. You guys get your weapons ready." With that he charged the beast, brandishing his sword.

******************************

It was a rush Tommy had grown used to. The surge of battle inside of his blood. His love for Kimberly pumping in his heart. The sight of his friends lying on the ground fueling his rage.

He had been watching on the viewscreen when the blast had hit the Rangers. To know that his best friend and wife were in that blast nearly snapped his sanity in two. He had swiped the morpher from Trey and teleported onto the scene, using a burst of energy on himself in a Gold Rush technique he had seen Trey use to charge his enemy.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jason leap into the fray. He slammed his sword into a blade the monster had pulled out of its trench coat, then followed with a leg sweep. Tommy caught the opportunity and nailed the thing in an energized kick that blasted it several yards away.

"Together again, huh?" 

"I was thinking you weren't gonna show."

Tommy smiled at the use of his own line against him. "So what's the plan?"

"Slice the antennae."

"Simple enough."

Both Rangers surged forward. Their attacks were in perfect synchronization, drawing blood several times. The blades they used were coated in a dark purplish-red. Jason knocked one of the remaining two blades to Tommy, who caught it and used it to hold the monster's last weapon down. Jason saw the opening and leapt up in a spinning slash that took the thin antennae right off the monster's head. Both Rangers leaped back to the group, forming blasters from their swords.

"Pyramid formation!" Jason yelled. He, Zack, and Rocky stood shoulder to shoulder to shoulder next to each other, allowing the girls to stand on them. All five aimed their weapons toward the center and fired. The blast formed a large sphere of energy. Tommy positioned himself behind them and fired his own blast, sending the sphere flying towards the monster. The resulting explosion sent slimy entrails flying.

The six Rangers lined themselves side by side and observed their work. Blood flowed through the streets and into storm drains and limbs still littered the area.

It was the prettiest sight they had ever seen.

******************************

"It's been destroyed, sire."

"Hmm. This invasion will be more difficult than I thought. By whom?"

"I am unsure, sire. Sources say it may have been six Earth humans."

"Humans? How?"

"They were empowered, sire."

A deep growl. "I should have known. This is the planet of many of the empowered."

"Shall I send the remains of the battalion, sire?"

"No."

"But sire, I..."

Black, soulless eyes burned into him, silencing him. "Do you question my judgment?"

"No sire."

"Good. Let the battalion tend to their wounds. Now go. I wish to be alone." The shadow closed its lifeless eyes in thought. Yes, Earth. Home of many empowered souls. But he had done bioscans before invading. How could these have come so suddenly?

He growled. He knew who it was.

"Impressive, Prince Trey. You have done well to try and halt my plans. However, it will prove ineffectual. I **will** defeat you, and whatever pathetic being you have decided to empower.

"The war has only just begun."

__

Author's Note: And so you've read the first chapter of my rewritten Revelation series! Please tell me if you want it continued or not. I value the opinion of the readers very much. Also, if anybody has any kind of storyline ideas they'd like to see, suggest it in your review and I'll see if I can do it (I will, of course, give you much credit and allow you to read it and make sure you like it first).

Thank you: Dagmar, for always responding to her reviews so pleasantly and letting everybody know her true opinion on things

Rach, for making one of the best (and longest) Time Force fanfic series I have ever seen

Ozmandayus, for inspiring me to get into writing this stuff in the first place.

And YOU! For reading and (hopefully) enjoying this fanfic! Thank you!


	2. Powerful Decisions

"They did it."

"You doubted them?"

"Partially. I've only seen three of them in actual combat. And that was a close call."

"They seemed fine to me."

"No. Something's wrong. They didn't function entirely as a team should."

"They fought back the battalion. An _entire_ battalion! What more could you expect?"

Sigh. "I don't know. Maybe I just feel so...ineffectual here."

"There's nothing you can do. The Golden Zeo Crystal is shattered. No one on Triforia could fix that kind of damage."

"Perhaps..."

"Look, they're back." Six streaks of gold and black materialized on the viewscreen. "I think they want explanations. Especially the one they call Zack."

"Well, I suppose I should go and give them."

******************************

"Very impressive, Rangers."

"Impressive?" Zack fumed. "We almost got killed out there!"

Trey looked at the Ranger with calm etched into his features. "The battalion is not something to be taken lightly. It was your first battle. Mistakes are understandable." He shifted his gaze to the rest of the group. "This experience should have been educational. Now you know what you are up against. However, you know only partially what you are capable of. Do not be afraid to stretch your Powers. They will recharge over time. You're going to need to push yourselves to your greatest limits in order to stand a chance. I warn you, this is an army unlike any you have faced before."

Tommy and Jason exchanged looks. They had heard this speech from Zordon on several occasions and had always come out fine. But something else was in their eyes. They knew now more than ever what kind of destruction evil could cause. They knew very well that if they were to die in battle, it would be as victims, not heroes. No one would ever know what they had done for the Earth.

Kimberly sighed. She felt the weight of the morpher strapped to her wrist. Never before had she used one like this. It was almost....frightening. Everything she had known about the Rangers from the past had been shattered. Always in her heart had been the hope that they would never die, never have to face the fact that so many people lost so much because of their battle against darkness. Of course, she couldn't plead ignorance since she had known Tommy dealt with it all the time. But it always seemed so distant. Sure, the fact that he hurt had always hurt her, but she never really understood the full effect of it all. Tommy had fought so hard to protect them all from that. Now that she thought about it, Jason had done the same thing. They wanted to keep the team fresh, always ready for the battle. Both of them took it upon themselves as leaders to make sure that nobody felt anything was their fault, but they carried such a great burden on their own shoulders. _'They were always so stubborn. Still are in some cases.'_ It was what made Tommy and Jason who they were.

"So what do we do now?" Aisha broke the silence. "I guess these guys don't know who we are yet?"

"No, and I hope to keep it that way." Trey shook his head. "The less they know about you the better. These forces are ruthless. They will not hesitate to outnumber you or perform any number of tactics your previous enemies have not employed."

"Doesn't matter." Jason crossed his arms. "It never has. We're going to fight to defend the Earth, no matter what."

"Speak for yourself!"

Six faces turned to Zack. "There is no way I'm keeping this up! I have a life, man! Believe it or not, I got kinda used to _not_ having people out trying to kill me!" He unclamped his morpher and held it out. "Take it back. I don't wanna be a part of this any more."

The Triforian Prince pushed it back. "Listen, I know that these events have been stressful..." Zack snorted in derision at that. "I'm not going to say this is something that you will all come out of or conquer. But I must ask you not to make such a decision now, Zack. There are quarters through that hallway. Rest now. If by tomorrow morning you still wish to leave, then I will let you. There are many other, more willing subjects to take your place." At that, Trey turned and calmly walked through a doorway to complete some unknown task.

"Alright, you heard the man. Everybody split and go get yourselves some sleep." Tommy moved to follow his own order and began heading for the area indicated to them, Kimberly close by his side. Jason took a quick look over the group before going as well. The final three moved slowly and separately to find their own temporary living space.

******************************

**__**

-It was a cold day, even for that time of year. The coldness matched many things around them: the ground, their expressions, the feeling in their hearts...

The words carved into her tombstone.

****

Here lies Trini Kwan

Beloved Sister, Devoted Friend

May her spirit rest in the peace she spread

Her tombstone only stood there, as if mocking them that it was the only link they had to their friend. He read the markings over and over again. Deep within his heart he pleaded that it not be true. How could it be? After everything she had been through, **this** was what had claimed her? It was impossible! It couldn't be! She didn't deserve this!**-**

Zack's eyes opened through the light sheen of sweat that had gathered on the lids. He sat up slowly and wiped his hand across his forehead. His breathing was heavy. Why? He had experienced far more gruesome nightmares before. Why did this one hurt so much?

"Want to talk about it?"

He looked up to see Rocky standing just barely outside of the shadows in a corner. "How'd you know?"

The Hispanic man shrugged. "Dealing with Adam's sensitivity issues, guilt trips, and panic attacks. And yes, he has had all three before. I guess when you've been a guy's best friend for over ten years, you just know him."

Zack averted his eyes. "We don't even know each other all that great, man. And you won't get the chance to. I'm gettin' the hell outta here as soon as I can. I don't want this anymore." He slumped back against the wall. "I don't even know why Trey chose me. I'm a _dancer_ for crud's sake! I haven't fought in years! I haven't been a Ranger for even longer!" His head knocked back into the wall. "What was he thinking?"

"The same thing he thought when he chose the rest of us." Rocky sat down at the foot of the bed. "Look, Zack, I still remember what it was like when we were younger. I remember my first time morphing into the Red Ranger, going into battle. I remember how cocky I was. I remember almost every little thing that was great about being a Ranger. I could probably sit here all night and tell you all of the good things we've all done over the years."

"Exactly my point. I've done my time. I'm through with this." He looked Rocky straight in the eyes. "I have a life, man. I have friends who never knew I was a Power Ranger. I have a job that pays. I have a nice apartment in Washington. It's time I moved on. I've got too much to lose now." There was a pause.

"Christina."

"What?"

Rocky closed his eyes in thought. "There's this girl. Her name's Christina. She's the aunt of a student at the dojo. Single. I've been working on a relationship with her for a long time now. Been thinking of maybe asking her to marry me soon." He looked at Zack. "People I love are involved in that dojo. My best friend is there. My family is still here in California. Now I don't know exactly why they always choose here in Angel Grove, but I do know this: If I knew that something this big was happening, then I would want to do something about it. Don't tell me there's nobody out there that you wouldn't fight for. That you never thought of _dying_ for."

Zack stared into the shadows. There was one...No. There _had been_ one. It was over now.

Rocky saw the change in his fellow Ranger's gaze. He stood up and walked to the door. "Better get some rest. It's a long bus ride back to Washington." The door whisked shut behind him.

******************************

Kimberly sighed. It was something she did quite often recently. She figured it was probably a side effect of waking up in the arms of the man she loved. That had to be it. No one sighed purposefully over anything for as many years as she had. Or did they?

She sighed. It was too early for thinking.

Snoring from the direction of the floor caught her attention, and she adjusted herself enough to see Jason lying in a disheveled heap. Her smile broke even wider. Both he and Tommy had stayed up long into the night telling her of the Serpentera mission, which, for some odd reason, they had decided to nickname "Forever Red".

__

'Boys will be boys, I suppose,' she thought humorously.

"He always did sleep like a ton of bricks," a voice breathed across her ear. She felt a strong hand reach around her waist. "Never could wake up the first time any alarm rang."

"This coming from the same guy who forgot to wind his watch so he'd remember his first date with a certain Pink Ranger," came the retort from the floor. A well-aimed pillow soon found the speaker. All three laughed before slowly finding their ways to a standing position. Jason scanned the couple. "Well, glad to see you managed to keep your clothes on through the night."

"Sorry to disappoint you, bro. We passed that stage a long time ago." Kimberly nudged her husband.

"Funny. I don't remember you saying that last Friday."

"Probably because you were screaming so loud you never would have heard me."

"Whoa, hey, you two!" Jason interrupted. "Honestly! This is my best friend and the girl I think of as a sister. That is just..." He pretended to violently shudder, eliciting more laughs as the trio headed out the door just as Rocky strolled up to join them.

"Geez, Tommy, I didn't know you and Kim were into letting somebody else..."

"DeSantos, finish that sentence and I will be very much obliged to put your head through the nearest wall."

"Shutting up now, Sir Technicolor. But if I may say..."

Three cries of "NO!" echoed amongst the halls.

******************************

"When did they first appear?"

"I'm not sure. Something's been jamming our sensors."

"Can you tell how many there are?"

"No."

Trey's lips creased. "Sound the alarm."

******************************

They had gathered surprisingly quick, considering the hour. It was almost as if the rush of adrenaline was a call they had never been able to deny.

"What's up?" Aisha asked. She still tried to rub some of the sleep from her eyes. Overall they were still tired, but readiness soon replaced it.

"As far as I can tell it's a scouting unit. They're searching the area. You need to deal with them quickly. The less they find out down here the better." Trey activated a console and prepared to teleport them. "Be careful. They know there are Rangers on this planet. It's most likely they're going to have a few Battalion members with them. They'll probably be hidden or disguised. Keep your guard up."

"Alright, everybody, let's form up!" Jason and Tommy centered themselves within the group, five Rangers ready to rock.

Wait. Five?

Zack had not joined them. Instead, he stood off to the side, his eyes glued to a viewscreen.

"Zack, c'mon," Aisha urged. Nothing.

"Zack!" Kimberly called. Still no response.

Tommy and Jason's eyes met, exchanging a wealth of information in seconds. Both of them nodded.

"Let's go," Tommy ordered. "We're doing this one short." Reluctantly, everyone prepared their morphers.

"IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"

The last thing Zack saw before the five black-clad figures formed was a pair of disappointed brown eyes looking at him.

******************************

Five surges of black heralded the coming of the Rangers. They took a quick glance around before sliding behind a corner just before the scout unit came towards them. Aisha leaned her head around for a look.

"Doesn't look like much. A few robots, kind of Rocky's size. They don't look like they could do much damage."

"Remember what Trey said, though," Jason warned. "There could be some more of those things we fought yesterday here, too."

Kimberly morphed a small crossbow onto her forearm. "So what's the plan?"

Tommy and Jason were silent for a moment as they morphed their own weapons, signaling for the others to do the same.

"Waste 'em."

They spared no time in surging forward. The robots didn't even stand a chance.

"No way is it that easy." Rocky couldn't hide the tension in his voice.

"Keep your eyes peeled," Tommy whispered. "Scanners up."

All five of the Rangers now saw a complete grid laid out inside of their visors. Statistics like temperature, noise level, and detectable vital signs. Two perpendicular targeting lines roamed across the grid as they searched for anything of note.

"Hey...do you guys hear that?"

"Sounds like...breathing."

It definitely sounded like someone breathing across the comm system harshly. The noise was getting louder....faster....

....Closer.

Jason felt the hair on the back of his neck tingle and whirled around. "Look out!" A dagger-sized blade morphed itself onto his right hand as he ducked under a humongous arm. He drove the blade into the stomach of a huge beast forged from God-only-knows-what. With a sharp twist and yank, Jason cleaved the monster in half.

"Here they come!" In moments the five were surrounded by hell-bent creatures of destruction. The circle broke outward into different clusters as the beasts fought to take on one or two Rangers at a time in their own groups.

Rocky's bladed staff revolved at full tilt as he fought to give Aisha room to use her arm cannons. Kimberly stood with them using small crossbows on her forearms to add to their projectile assault. Tommy and Jason had separated from the group and attacked with their own brand of swords. Both fought mostly on their own but worked to give Aisha and Kimberly as many open shots as possible.

Rocky rolled to his feet as he recovered from a jarring blow to his ribcage. He morphed a blaster and fired several shots at his previous attacker's head. _'One down and about a hundred to go.'_ His blaster continued to recoil from shot after shot. He focused more energy into it, managing to puncture two monsters with one shot a few times.

Aisha and Kimberly pressed their backs right against each other and held their weapons high. The small army immediately began pressing in on them, blood thirst plain in their eyes. Swirls of energy coalesced around the two female Rangers. A mighty shockwave rippled amongst the crowd as shattered limbs flew through the air. Amidst the chaos kneeled the causers of the wave, breathing heavily. They wouldn't be able to keep that up for too long, not without giving their powers time to recharge. This high cost battle needed to be finished, and soon.

******************************

Trey watched as the Rangers began showing their weariness. More Battalion forces had teleported in now. It was obvious that this fight was nearly over. His eyes shifted to Zack, standing there watching much like himself. The inner turmoil rolled off of him in waves. He saw the arm with his morpher attached twitching. Zack wanted to use it. That much was plain.

Even watching his friends fight for their lives, Zack was still undecided. Years ago he would have leapt into the fray with no questions asked. Now...now it was one of the hardest decisions of his life. _'Why shouldn't I give the morpher to Trey? Surely he could take it and help the others. All I would have to do is hand it to him and say I'm out of here. No more caring. No more fighting. No more worrying about how I have to help save the world.'_

It was then that a memory occurred to him, something from so long ago. It was a memory burned into him like a searing hot coal set on his heart. It was a wound still fresh, still open.

**__**

-"Why not? Name one good reason why not."

"I'm just not interested in you, that's why."

"Then explain the movie, the dinner, the film festival..."

"I'm sorry. I guess I thought you were a different kind of person. But I was wrong, Zack. You proved me wrong. I can't date somebody who's so immature. What kind of responsibility have you ever had to take on? You never take anything seriously! All you ever want to do is fool around. I'm sorry, Zack. You're just not accountable enough."**-**

__

'Not responsible! She didn't have any clue what kind of responsibility I had to take! People died when I screwed up! She didn't understand because she didn't see that!' Zack took a deep breath. _'Can I really blame her? I tried to make life lighter than everyone else did. I wanted to assure myself and everybody that life was worth living.'_ His eyes traveled to the morpher on his wrist. _'But would it be that way if I just hand this thing over? Can I do that? Just go on and pretend nothing is happening? Could I go back home and not fight for something like this?'_ The answer was simple. _'No. I can't. I can't go through life running away like that.'_ He set his jaw in determination. _'I'm not going to prove her right.'_

"It's morphin' time."

******************************

"Keep it together, guys. We're not dead yet."

"No. Dead people don't feel this much pain."

The five Rangers were hunched over and breathing deeply. Many aches made themselves known across each body as they moved. The reinforcements had brought new life to the battle against them. Kimberly was clutching her shoulder in pain from the dislocation that had occurred in a swift melee with five of the savage brutes. Rocky was keeping the weight off of one knee. Both Jason and Tommy were nearly lying down in exhaustion, now realizing the toll individual combat had taken on them. Aisha trembled from exhaustion.

In short, they were beat.

"In the name of Sektarus!" some of the monsters shouted. The crowd began advancing on their prey....

...Just as a large, black beam sliced through a chunk of the group. They scattered and reformed in order to gauge this new attacker.

"Leave my friends alone!"

Five helmeted sets of eyes turned up to see. Yes, there he was. One black figure amongst the throng. Or, better yet, **through** the throng. Zack was cutting of heads and other assorted limbs with his axe as he moved his way toward the team. His body twisted and kicked out with years of experience in his personal art, hip-hop-kido. Every move was performed with fluid movements and smooth power. The monsters began to back off a bit, trying to regroup enough to mount a new assault.

Rocky balanced his weight on his one good leg. "Glad you decided to show."

He could sense Zack smiling under the helmet. "Well, I figured a bus ticket back to Washington would cost a little bit much for a dancer's salary."

The others managed to stagger into upright positions. "Everybody, we need one hell of an attack for this one," Jason panted. "Get ready for the Power Blaster."

Zack morphed his axe into cannon mode and held it before the others. Kimberly formed her bow and placed several charged arrows in it before joining it with the axe. Rocky broke his staff in half and charged energy through it, causing it to crackle along the blades as he attached it to the underside of Kim's bow. Aisha positioned her arm cannons next to them. Finally, Jason and Tommy fused their own energy blasters together and placed them on top. All the Rangers gathered behind them.

"Give us everything you've got," Tommy ordered. Everyone focused all of their power into the blaster. It began to glow a bright gold in their hands.

"FIRE!" Intense rays of energy burned through the building, shattering several fixtures, cracking the walls, and most of all blasting through every monster in sight. They turned the blaster towards the onslaught until every last one was slain. A short sputter, and the beams shut down. Five of the six could be seen collapsing to the floor even as their bodies were turned to streaks of dark light and sent rocketing towards the sky.

******************************

"M...my lord?"

A deep growl in the shadows. "What is it?"

"Th...the...Battalion members, sire....they...they were defeated."

The black eyes glowed crimson for a moment. "WHAT?!?!"

A small whimper from the pathetic life form. "Th...the empowered, sire....they destroyed them."

The eyes returned to their blackness. Their owner growled harshly yet again. "Those beings are coming to be a pain in my side. They must be dealt with." The blackness looked out amongst the stars.

"Send for the _Dai'rak_."


	3. The Confrontation

**__**

Disclaimer: I don't own the majority of these characters. The concept of Power Rangers doesn't belong to me, yadda yadda yadda. I would like to thank the gracious reviews you all have left, and I can only hope that this next installment will elicit as generous a response. Enjoy!

Teamwork.

It was a simple word, really. Compound in the English language, sure, but its definition was straightforward: Two or more members working together to achieve a common goal.

So why didn't the two men before him quite get the impact of its meaning?

"The two of you seem to have a severe problem with working together, although I don't quite understand how that's possible. Zordon himself has probably chastised you for not working as a unit, knowing him."

Jason and Tommy shifted under Trey's gaze as best they could. Injuries from yesterday's fight still limited their movement. It had been a debate on whether or not they should even have come to the conference room to meet with the former Gold Ranger.

"What I don't understand is how you could have possibly forgotten everything he taught you."

"We didn't forget," Jason said with a tone of warning. It seemed to him that Trey was almost putting them down for their fighting performance, and bringing a dead mentor into the picture almost border lined sacrilegious as far as he was concerned.

"No? Then explain exactly what you were thinking splitting up like that." The Triforian Prince leaned close to the two men. "I know you two are capable fighters. You know it, and most importantly of all your team knows it. They respect you. Now, I know of your past history as leaders, including your own bouts of individualism and personal demons that you had to fight one-on-one. But I feel I must remind you that this is bigger than any of us. I called you all to help defend your planet, maybe even this entire universe. If you don't learn to fight safer, then I'm afraid I won't have any choice but to find someone else." With that, he stood regally and walked out of the room.

There were several moments of silence as the two leaders thought about what had just been said. "Maybe he's right. We have been a little cocky, considering we don't know exactly what we're up against," Tommy admitted.

Jason nodded his head. "Maybe, but I don't exactly think he's telling us the whole story either."

"He doesn't have any reason to lie, Jase. There's just as much for him to lose."

"I never said anything about lying, just about withholding certain pieces of information." _'A certain life-draining power comes to mind...'_

"Well, whatever it is, let's worry about it later. Rocky said some people got kind of suspicious about him being gone the past few days with no explanation. I'm guessing we're all going to need to come up with a decent excuse."

His muscular partner shrugged as if it was a minor issue. "Old habits die hard."

Tommy's mind flashed back to the old days, when he had worn the mantle of the Green Ranger, fighting against everything....on his own.

"They sure do, bro. They sure do."

******************************

"Looky who decided to show up at work today."

Kimberly smiled at the voice before turning herself around to face the blonde moving to sit nearby. "Good morning to you too, Kat."

Katherine Hillard. Former Pink Ranger. Kimberly's successor. Friend. Major confidante. Her arrival at Kim and Tommy's wedding had made assurances as to no ill feelings between the two women. As a matter of fact, the thing that drew them closest had been their shared knowledge of Tommy. Long night chats about their experiences with and without him had started the forging of a friendly bond between the two that had lasted for years. They now both worked at the local mall. Flexible hours and several connections had gained them a job at a well-known and quite large athletic store right next to the food court. Not exactly either's first choice, but it certainly beat unemployment. And considering that both of them specialized in at least some of the areas of athletics the store supported (or had connections to someone who did) made the work a lot more enjoyable.

"So, any reasons why little Kimmie had to miss work for two days straight?" the Australian teased. "I know your husband can be pretty enduring, but I doubt even he could have held on for that long." The wiggle in her eyebrows gave Kimberly all the meaning she needed. She returned a sly smile.

"Oh, you'd be surprised at the things he's learned since we married..."

Both women leaned in like they were sharing a kind of conspiracy.

"Better than morphing?" Kat whispered.

"**Much** better." 

The blonde inhaled sharply. "Bloody hell, woman. I'm surprised you can still **walk**."

"Yeah, me too." _'Though not exactly for the reason you think.'_ She hated that such a thing might have to be kept from one of her best friends. Katherine was the one she trusted now more than any other girl around, except for Aisha. Would it really hurt her to know? After all, if things got too intense and she couldn't make it to work, wouldn't it be easier to have someone who could help make up an excuse for her? Could she really ask that?

__

'Ah, who am I kidding? She'll find out one of these days anyway. Better to just let it go now.'

"Listen, Kat. There's something you need to know..."

******************************

Rocky stepped off the mats lightly, trying to keep from walking on his recovering knee. _'Maybe practicing today wasn't such a good idea...'_

"Man, it's a good thing you didn't have a class today. You would've been toast."

The Hispanic man smirked. "You know me. Never resist a chance for a good injury." He shared a laugh with his companion. "How's the paperwork comin', Adam?"

"Pretty good." The Korean martial artist smiled. "We're under budget by a pretty big margin this time. Might have enough money to take on a part-time instructor or two."

"How 'bout Jason and Tommy?" The names were out of his mouth before he realized something....

"They're back in town? Why didn't they call?" Adam studied his partner. "Why didn't **you** tell me?"

__

'Oh boy. I was hoping to break this out easily...'

"Well, something's kind of happened over the past couple of days...."

******************************

"Transmission sent, my lord."

"Excellent. How long until they arrive?"

"With a fast transport, they should be here within forty-eight hours."

The hulking mass of darkness hissed loudly. "In that amount of time the empowered could recover! This is unsuitable." It turned to the slim creature nearby. "Prepare four forces from the Battalion, one for every twelve hours. I want to discover everything about them. I want their strengths, weaknesses, knowledge, **everything**. Is that understood?"

"Yes, my lord." The creature made a small squeak of fear before going off to do its master's bidding. Sharp claws dug their way across the floor behind the black-eyed darkness.

"Let me lead a force, sire. I will defeat them."

"Be patient, Akeras. We know too little of our enemies as of now."

A seven-foot, scaled creature clawed into the tiny beacon of light before the throne. Akeras stood up on its hind legs. "But Sektarus, I can..."

"No." The denial was quiet, but forceful. It left no room for argument. "These are strong beings. I will only send you into battle when victory is sure. Our past defeats have served to provide us at least information about our enemies. You must learn from this method." The dark form settled in its throne. "Now, go."

"As you wish, my lord." Akeras returned to all fours and skulked its way back into the shadows.

"Your warriors have served you well, Prince Trey. But even their prowess will not save this planet. The time will come soon. You **will** be defeated."

******************************

Katherine shook her head. "You mean to tell me Trey has come **here**?" Kimberly nodded. "And he recruited you, Tommy, Jason, Rocky, and Aisha to be Rangers again?"

"And Zack," the brunette added.

"Right." A sigh escaped the Australian. "Wow. I mean, this is incredible. So what are we up against?"

Kimberly stopped her drink in mid-sip. "We? What do you mean we, Kat?"

"Well, I want to help. If there's something going on out there that involves the Power Rangers, you're going to need all the help you can get, Kim."

Her eyes met deep pools of blue. "Kat, I would love for you to help us, really I would. But this situation is too dangerous to have you directly involved." She raised up a hand to forestall any protest. "Please, Kat. You mean too much to me as a friend. The best way you can help is to cover for me if anything goes wrong. We can't let anybody find out that we're doing this."

"Why not?"

"We don't know entirely what we're dealing with. Even Trey isn't sure about who's behind all this. He just knows that whatever happens, they're going for planet-wide takeover. We can't leave anything to chance."

Kat nodded slowly. "I understand." She took her friend in a hug. "Thank you for telling me this. I would've worried myself to death wondering about you if anything happened." Both women pulled back and looked at each other. The unsaid message between them was like that of a pact, a sacred bond between members of the same order, servers of the same cause.

"You can count on me, Kim."

******************************

__

'Wow.' It was the only word that managed to find its way into the coherent part of Adam's brain._ 'I can't believe...wow.'_

Rocky looked at his friend, trying to gauge his emotions. Was he angry that he hadn't been told sooner? Glad he had even been told? Amazed at the entire situation? "I'm not making this up, y'know."

Adam shook his head and swallowed. "No, you wouldn't joke around about this." He ran a hand through his long, curly hair. "Man... Nothing ever stays the same for long around here, does it?"

The Hispanic man chuckled. "Yeah. If I didn't know any better I'd say Angel Grove was placed just over a Hellmouth or something."

"Wrong universe, Rocko." Both men managed to share a laugh at that before the mood sobered again.

"So, you're not mad?"

"Why should I be? You've been chosen for something awesome, Rocky. Yeah, I wish I could help in the sense of being able to morph and fight with you, but I know that that's not my place now. I know that you're going to need somebody to cover for you sometimes, just like we used to for the others before we became Rangers." Adam clapped his friend on the shoulder before pulling him into a fierce hug. "I'm proud of you, man."

Both of them took a step back and simply stood for a while. Thoughts of both past and present swirled inside their heads. They had come such a long way from being high school students with an after school, world-saving occupation. They had grown stronger, smarter, and more mature. It was a time when their friendship needed to be stronger than ever.

"Tell Aisha to drop by sometime. We've got a lot of catching up to do."

"No problem. I'll be sure to invite her over when she can see me kick you around a bit."

Adam punched his friend in the shoulder. "What makes you think you can take me?"

"Come on, we all know I could kick you to the curb."

"Don't make me morph."

"You're retired! You don't have a morpher!"

"I can get a morph goin'." The former Black and Green Ranger did a few practice kicks in the air worthy of Jet Li proportions. Rocky grinned.

"Whatever you say man." He looked at his watch. "Well, I'm gonna get going. My mom's probably overdosing on her heart medication since I haven't made my weekly call. See you later."

"Take care, Rocky." He waved goodbye, then started to turn back to his office.

His friend was a Power Ranger. Again.

__

'Wow.'

******************************

"Trey!"

The dark-haired prince rushed over to the console, looking over the shoulder of its operator. "What in the galaxies is that?"

"A transmission signal of some sort."

"Can you trace it?"

"Not without having something detect us."

Trey sighed. "How about interpreting it?"

"That would take a while, but offhand I'd say the wavelengths look like a trace program. If Sektarus is sending this out..."

"We're going to have company."

******************************

Aisha took a quick look around the block. Outside appearances certainly hadn't changed much. At least, not from what she remembered. The young woman pressed two fingers lightly against her temple. How many of the memories in her head were real? Sure, it was true that she had indeed experienced all of them, but how many of them were actually _valid_? Would she be able to tell which ones were from her life here in Angel Grove and which ones had come from the Zeo-crystal-altered life in Africa? Would anyone else?

__

'Stop that!' she cursed herself. _'You know the others remember, too. They remember everything about you. Everything.' _She wanted to believe that with all of her heart, but standing in front of the house she remembered spending her high school years in and seeing that the name on the mailbox was not her own....Something inside of that large heart she had felt cracked, torn even. Like she was living a lie.

__

*"We all knew the risks when we took this job."*

Words of both Tommy and Jason. Whenever something had gone wrong, they told themselves that they knew it was a possibility. _'I realized it, too, I guess. Part of me knew things would never be the same after I sent Tanya back in my place. I knew being a Ranger did all sorts of crazy stuff to a person.'_ Aisha looked at the morpher set upon her wrist. _'But it was worth it. It was all worth it.'_

She put her hands into the pockets of her jean shorts and started walking away. The past was already taken care of. It was time to think about the future.

******************************

"Battalion forces coming in fast."

Another sigh. Could this day get any worse?

"Patch me through to the Rangers."

******************************

Katherine almost jumped at the beep that sounded from her friend's wrist. Kimberly raised her morpher to her lips.

"This is Kimberly."

__

+Kimberly, this is Trey. We have Battalion forces arriving near the city.+

"Understood." The brunette looked up.

"Time to go to work, huh?" At Kim's nod, the blonde stood up. "Go ahead. I'll cover for you."

"Thanks, Kat. You're the best." She got up and started purposefully heading out the door.

******************************

"I'm on my way." Rocky lowered his arm and turned back to the phone. "Uh, Mom? Sorry, I need to cut this short. No, no, everything's fine. It's just, uh...Adam...needs my help with something down here. Look, I'll call you later, okay?" He promptly hung up and looked up to the sky, annoyed and kind of tired of the interruption already. "Let's get this over with."

******************************

"Thanks for helping me move in, Aisha." Zack placed the box he was carrying in a corner of the room. "Good thing you booked a room big enough for the both of us, huh?"

"Yeah, tell me about it. Musta been one of my psychic moments or something."

The words had barely left her mouth when a beep sounded from both of their wrists.

"Could you see that one coming?" Zack grinned.

"Honey, _anybody_ who's been a Ranger could see that one coming."

******************************

Jason stalked along the side of the road, still somewhat fuming at Trey. _'What right does he think he has to tell **us** how to do **our** job?'_ Part of him knew that the thought process was illogical at best. Trey just wanted them to operate well and make sure they all got hurt as little as possible.

__

'Zordon did the exact same thing. God, how many times did he put just me and Tommy on a mission together to work out our problems with teamwork?' His mind flashed back to Trey's lecture. He smirked. _'Guess he should have sent the whole team along anyway.'_

A beep coming from his wrist nearly halted him in mid-stride. Brown eyes scanned the area with practiced ease before he ducked into an alley.

"Jason here."

__

+Battalion forces near the city limits, bro. Time to rumble.+

Tommy's voice sounded a little labored, as if he was in the middle of combat.

"I'm on it." If they were already fighting, why had it been left up to Tommy to contact him? Why hadn't it been Trey?

__

'Probably thinking I'd screw up again.' His fist clenched as he brought the morpher up to a ready position. _'Well, I'll show him.'_

"IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"

******************************

"Think these guys plan on giving up any time soon?" Rocky yelled out, twirling his bladed staff in several lethal circles into the beasts around him.

"Don't count on it," Zack replied. He had charged energy into his boots and gloves and turned himself into a living, dancing weapon. Electric power surged through him and left his targets writhing on the ground.

"Who cares? They're not even a challenge!" Aisha laughed as she blasted the group with her arm cannons.

A black streak materialized into Jason's armored figure just before he leapt into the fray alongside Tommy. "What's it look like, bro?"

Tommy used his sword to knock back a few of the monsters. "Pretty easy. We're mowing through these guys really fast." He paused as they both sliced more of the hideous creations into ribbons. "Does it seem like they're holding back to you?"

For a second, Jason wondered if his friend had gone insane. The more he looked around, though, the more it made sense. Compared to their past two encounters this seemed like a training exercise. It was almost as if....

"They're testing us," he breathed. "They want to know what we can do."

Kimberly appeared next to them. Several sharp knife points were sticking out of her armor. "Let's not disappoint them, then." Swirls of energy coalesced into a bow and arrow. She charged the arrow enough to make it glow, then sent it flying directly through a dozen of the creatures. Aisha joined her side and added her own firepower to the onslaught as Jason and Tommy moved to protect their backsides. Rocky and Zack battled their way to the group and acted as moving shields against whatever Tommy and Jason couldn't get to in time.

__

'Yeah, teamwork!' Tommy thought proudly. "Let's keep it up, guys!" All went well for a few minutes before a beam struck Aisha on the shoulder.

"Cover her!" Jason shouted. Nobody could get to her in time. The forces were moving the others away from her as best as they could. The Ranger paused in consideration, then saw his opportunity. He flipped over an attacker and embedded his sword in its back so hard that it came out through the front. Lifting the body up as a shield, he charged through the group and kneeled next to his fallen friend. "You okay?"

Bolts of energy still coursed through her body. "I think so. Having a hard time moving though. Must've hit me with a stun bolt."

The being impaled on Jason's sword began twisting and writhing, trying to fight its way off. A quick punch to what passed for a neck stilled it. "I better get this thing off before he gets **really** cranky." Ideas, ideas, he need ideas! The others couldn't hold off the entire force forever, even if its numbers were depleted. _'Well, Trey said to stretch our powers a little.'_ Power began to surge through his sword and into the beast around it. He imagined the power flowing through every part of its body, being absorbed into it. _'Let's see...I remember Billy saying something about molecules taking in energy until they have enough to break away from their starting point, and that's what causes heat. So if we pump enough of Energy A into Subject B, then....'_ A sickening splatter and several superheated body parts later...

"Spontaneous combustion."

"Very sick, Jase." Aisha stood and sent a pulse through her arm cannons. "If it hadn't saved my ass I would probably smack you on the head for doing something that disgusting."

He grinned under the helmet. "You're welcome."

Several more bodies came flying over their heads to land in a dismembered pile in front of them. Zack soon followed to see if any had survived. "Man, come on! These guys have got no groove at all!"

A bladed staff lanced itself through the heads of two monsters sneaking up on the Ranger. Rocky strolled over and picked it up, spinning the blades to take off the blood. "Come on, Zack. You can't expect the entire galaxy to be able to dance like you." He patted Zack on the shoulder. "And some of them? Trust me, you don't **want** them to."

"Alright everybody, I think that's it." Tommy's weapon turned into translucent light before shrinking into his hand. Everyone else did the same. "Let's get out of here so we can fill Trey in and get back to our lives."

As the six began to turn to black streaks of light, Zack's voice called out. "Yeah, Rocky, I don't think I want to even **begin** to imagine Rita shakin' her moneymaker on the dance floor!

******************************

"Group One has been destroyed."

"As I expected." Soulless eyes turned to Akeras. "And what did we learn from this group's failure?"

The lizard-like atrocity hissed. "They are strong together. Each one will protect the other. Especially the two who wield swords. They are leaders among these empowered."

"And what strategy do we use against those that are strong together?"

Akeras hissed again. "Divide and conquer."

******************************

Trey stood waiting as the Rangers came out of teleportation and demorphed. "Congratulations, Rangers. You've shown that you are all quite cohesive as a team unit. I'm glad you managed to work things out." He looked over at Tommy and Jason. "You two have done an excellent job in helping your team. Jason, you are to be commended for your quick thinking. I have to admit, that use of the Power certainly never crossed my mind."

Jason gave the Triforian a hard look. It wasn't necessarily a glare, but it was enough to let one know that he was displeased. "Why didn't you call me? Why did Tommy have to break his focus to contact me?"

Tommy put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Jase, easy..." He knew his co-leader had a pretty short fuse as far as Trey was concerned. Tension between the two wouldn't help the situation.

"No, Tommy. Let him explain it. I want to hear what was so important that he had to risk a member of the team to contact me."

"Well, since I was going to inform you of this anyway..." Trey walked over to a scanning console. "I've been tracking a signal in outer space. It's coming from where Sektarus' base of operations may be located. Now I'm not entirely sure, but it could be a trace program."

"You mean somebody's following that thing back to its source?" Tommy had picked up a few things in all his years as a Ranger, but Billy certainly hadn't explained trace programs in depth. Either he or Adam had always taken care of the computer stuff.

"Yes. Sektarus may be calling for reinforcements." He looked back at Jason with his usual expressionless air. "The power it's taking to run the interpreting program so I can find out what the transmission is really about is what shortened the communication systems. I told the others that there was not enough power to contact you and that one of them would have to make the call."

Jason's gaze lightened up. If someone looked close they would have seen a blush creeping up his neck. "Sorry."

"Not to worry, my friend. I know that I have not been entirely open with you all about my reasons, and I must ask you to forgive me. I'm afraid that the rush of this entire operation has left me little time or reason to explain things in depth. However..." Trey opened his arms in a gesture of honesty. "Any questions you have will be happily answered now that we have a moment to rest."

"Alright, I've got one." Rocky stepped up. "Who and/or what is this Sektarus? We've been hearing the name every time out there and I'm getting a little curious."

"I am almost entirely sure that Sektarus is the mastermind behind the invasion of Earth. Triforian archives did not have much information on him, but some say that he has become a being of pure dark energy. Perhaps you could say he **is** the dark side of the Morphin' Grid, which is one reason that your powers are mostly Zeo crystal based."

"Whoa, hold up." Zack held his hands up to forestall anything else. "You wanna run that by me again? This time in American?"

"It's simple, really. Since Sektarus and his forces are pure dark Morphin' energy, if we were to harness pure light Morphin' energy, every time the two clashed the resulting reaction would be far beyond what this planet is made to handle." He paused, searching his brain for a better way to put it. "Think of a situation where nearly ninety of your nuclear warheads were detonated at the Earth's core." Zack whistled in amazement. "Exactly. We couldn't have that and save the planet at the same time, now could we? So I based your powers off of the wavelength of the Zeo crystal, which was still kept here underneath the remains of the Command Center. They're a bit more technological and somewhat less powerful than the Morphin' Grid itself, but they also have properties which naturally weaken the mystical properties enough to give us a slight advantage."

"So, if this Sektarus guy is pure energy, does that mean he doesn't have a body?"

"We're not entirely sure, Aisha. No one has been alive long enough to find out. Odds are, however, that whatever form he is in, it will be very powerful."

"We'll burn that bridge when we get to it," Rocky said quickly. "Is anybody else hungry? 'Cause I really feel a need for lunch coming on here."

The others were about to laugh when their own stomachs alerted them to their needs. "I think Rocky's right. I could really go for a burger right about now. How about Ernie's?"

Tommy turned to look at Zack. "Um, bro? Sorry to break it to you, but Ernie's closed down years ago. Bulk is running the place."

"Bulk? Respectable? He's actually running something?" The shock on the African-American's face was almost too Polaroid-worthy to pass up.

Three of the Rangers laughed. "Yeah. Come on, we'll treat you guys." Kimberly smiled. "Just don't eat too much. It may be inexpensive, but a girl's gotta eat too, y'know."

"I believe that would be an excellent idea, Rangers. Go try to enjoy the rest of your afternoon. I'll keep track of that signal and let you all know if anything comes up."

The six nodded and prepared to teleport. Jason's black streak was the last to leave.

"Thanks, Trey."

******************************

"Welcome to Bulkmeyer's. What'll it...Oh, hey, Tommy!" Eugene Skullovitch, better known to his contemporaries as Skull, smiled at the long-haired man in front of him. "It's been a while man! Hey, how'd things go with that guy on the phone? Sounded like he had something real important to talk to you about."

"Yeah, it was kind of a heavy-duty thing. I'll fill you in on it later, but for now me and the group were wondering if we could get a round of burgers and fries."

"Not a problem. Anything for one of our best customers."

As the slim former-punk went back to relay the order, Tommy looked around. He was amazed at how much this place had changed. Juice Bar to Surf Spot to Bulkmeyer's, and all throughout it had always been a hangout for all ages. Unbidden memories of Ernie's kindness (and smoothies) flooded the Ranger's mind. It was amazing at all they had done there. The Juice Bar had been his proving grounds for status as Rita's Green Ranger, the site of a battle with putties before Kimberly's flower float had been trashed, and even where he had been chosen to regain his powers. Of course, it had been home to several, more normal, memories as well: Sparring with Jason, the Team Ninja competition, dances with Kimberly....All of those memories seemed washed into the area. No change in the outside could alter what had happened there. These walls held so much history for them all...

"Here y'go, Tommy." A tray filled with food was set in front of him before Skull turned back. "Fresh off the grill. I gotta run. There's a bunch of people inside Bulk needs my help with. See you later!"

__

'Man, of all the strange things to happen in Angel Grove, I still have to agree with Kimberly that Bulk and Skull turning into not just decent, but all out **prosperous** _business owners, has definitely won the prize.'_ He carried the tray over to the table his friends had staked out by the pool. _'I wonder...Did all of the monster attacks around here make them think about maturing like this?'_

"Thought I'd never live to see it," Zack said as he took his share of food off the tray. "This place is incredible. You're tellin' me Ernie actually sold it? To Bulk?"

"Actually, he sold it to some woman called Adele," Rocky corrected. "She changed it to the Surf Spot, but when that started goin' downhill Bulk came in and bought it." He took a sip of water. "Turns out he had some run-in with this rich professor guy when they were out on that space colony...uh....dang, what was it called?"

"Terra Venture," Kimberly supplied. She had almost gotten a passport there herself, but she had decided that space held a bit much for her at the moment. _'Especially when things still needed to be patched up between Tommy and me back then.'_ She glanced over at her husband. _'Now I'm happier than I ever could have been out in space.'_

"Yeah, that's it. Anyway, he turned it into Bulkmeyer's."

"Which our friend Tommy here practically owns," Jason added with a grin. He narrowly avoided a sharp play jab to the shoulder.

"It's not like that, Jase, and you know it." He turned to the rest of the group. "I used some of my racing money to help get the place off the ground. Whenever I can I help out with expenses and stuff. Makes a pretty comfortable life for us, and a decent hangout for the neighborhood."

"Since when did you get to play the good Samaritan? I remember a time when you would have tossed Bulk into the nearest trash can if he harassed Kim too much."

"That was a long time ago, Zack. We all grew up a bit."

"We sure did. Speaking of which...." Rocky looked towards Aisha. "Since we haven't heard from you in so long, how about telling us what Africa turned out to be like?"

That question started a session of reminiscing on everyone's part. They stayed for hours at that table, catching up, teasing, joking, and just having a good time in each other's company. It had seemed like forever since the group had gotten together, and some had more to tell than others. Zack especially had a lot of filling in to do starting after he and Jason had split from the Peace Conference. All in all, they were almost as happy as they had been in their teenage years. Life seemed good.

For now.

******************************

Sektarus growled. Night was beginning to fall on the planet. The second group of Battalion forces he had set aside for a strike was prepared. His plan was a gamble, however. This group of empowered had changed tactics again. It seemed that every time they went into battle they did something new. If they kept devising new strategies it would be difficult to outsmart them. With that option gone, all that would be left would be simply overpowering them, which would prove difficult at the rate they were cutting down his forces.

"What is the update on the _Dai'rak_?"

"They have increased speed, sire. They will arrive by 1200 hours Earth time."

Excellent. Things were going along better than he had hoped. They would be there in time to join with a Battalion group. _'Perhaps they will defeat these...annoyances...and allow me to continue with this invasion.'_ In the meantime, however, there were other things to consider.

"Increase the activity of the Harvesters. I want to make sure we have a contingency plan operational."

"But, my lord, the increase in activity could trigger an energy surge...If they detect us..."

"They will not detect us. The Triforian Prince is too busy masking their own signals, making sure we cannot find his forces. He will not have enough energy spared to interfere until it is too late. Now, go."

Akeras waited until they were alone. "You do not believe the _Dai'rak_ will be strong enough?"

"Do not mistake my intentions. I trust in their power. However, these beings are different than others we have encountered before. They appear battle-hardened, experienced. I am simply covering all possibilities." The black figure turned its deep eyes on its scaled subject. "The Battalion may not be our most effect fighting tool, but what it lacks in sensibility it makes up for in raw power. If we can not become more devious than these empowered, then we will simply destroy them through sheer force."

Akeras made a barely-audible hiss. "We could have done that when they first appeared. Why wait?"

"Because it is too simple. Anyone can kill with enough numbers. I want Prince Trey to know that even if he recruited others to aid him, they would stand no chance. It's not simply about invasion, my young protégé. I want this force to be punished for opposing me.

"I want them utterly **crushed**!"

******************************

Trey eyed the Rangers as they teleported into the Command Center. They were still alert, but tired.

"Okay, this is ridiculous," Rocky groaned. "Why attack in the middle of the night if you're not going to do anything?" They had just finished off another strike force, seemingly granted the same purpose as the last one. It felt like a simple training exercise to them despite the annoyance of being woken up in the middle of the night.

"They're probably trying to wear us down. Mondo did the same thing before..." Tommy spared an apologetic glance at Trey. "Well, you guys know the rest."

"So you think this could just be something to tire us out until the big fight?" Kimberly asked. It certainly wasn't the kind of strategy she was used to. Rita and Zedd had never given warning, just hit as fast and as hard as they could. _'Trey was right. These guys aren't kidding.'_

"If that is the case, Rangers, then I suggest you all return home and rest. If Sektarus has a larger plan on the horizon, all of you will need to be at your best to face it."

The six teleported out. Before long they would hopefully be asleep once again. He knew how long it took the adrenaline rush of battle to wear off. It was but a distant memory, though. Lost to the sands of time now. Tommy's near slip had reminded him his loss, but he had to deal with it. The Gold Ranger was no more.

******************************

Sektarus cast his shadowed eyes over the three beings forced into a kneel before him. "These were the best they could find?"

"Records show that their skills rival those of Prince Trey's, my lord," the sniveling servant told him in what resembled a proud tone, if a spineless beast could break out of its shell enough to be proud. "And, most importantly of all, they are compatible with the amulets."

"Yes, quite. And yet you force them to kneel. Why? Will they not submit?"

One of the beings, a male, looked up. "We will **never** serve you!"

The other two were female. They followed his lead. 

"Our loyalties lie elsewhere."

"We will not give in."

Sektarus growled. His dark form moved to a standing position, casting a blanket of pure darkness around them. "Bring me the amulets."

A box was presented to him. Inside were three fist-sized emblems fastened to chains. One looked like three outstretched claws, another like a circle of electricity, and the third resembled a series of upside-down triangles that seemed to go forever deeper. He took the claw emblem out and held it above the male's forehead.

"You see, I will give you no choice. You **will** serve me!"

Streams of dark energy surged between Sektarus and the young man before him. The young man screamed in pure agony, a scream that welled up from his very soul as if his insides were being torn apart. In the end he crumpled to the floor. Sektarus stooped down to place the amulet on the boy's neck, then turned to the other two captives.

When it was through, three armored figures stood before him. He turned to the servant beast. "Are the final strike forces ready?" Akeras had relayed his order to merge the last two Battalion teams.

"Yes, my lord."

"Excellent." Soulless eyes turned to the armored shapes. "Go now, and deliver a message to Prince Trey's forces. Rebellion against the power of Sektarus will not be tolerated!"

******************************

"Man, this is weird."

"Talk to me, Aisha. What've you got?"

Aisha checked the scanner strapped to the wrist of her Ranger armor. "That's the weird thing. The scanner is picking up absolutely nothing. It's like they weren't even here."

The "they" she had referred to had been the humongous group of Battalion forces Trey had showed to them in the Command Center earlier in the afternoon. There was also some unknown energy source that he couldn't quite lock down, and he wanted them to see if they could locate it. So far, no such luck.

"Maybe it was a sensor ghost. Something we fought a while back."

Zack shook his head. "Not likely, Kim. Trey said it didn't match anything in the archives."

"Yeah, but considering how much renovation that place has been through, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of things got lost."

Aisha stopped abruptly. Tommy and Jason immediately stepped to her side.

"What is it?"

"Did you pick up something?"

She was silent for a moment. "I think we're being followed," she whispered.

Both team leaders aimed their eyes upward, trying to catch sight of anything above them, then slowly craned their heads back towards the rest of the group.

"WEAPONS! NOW!"

Jason and Tommy leaped into the crowd of monstrous creatures before their swords were even fully morphed. Rocky summoned his staff, Zack his axe, and Aisha her cannons. Kimberly charged her body with energy instead. With her gymnastic training she could twist into all sorts of different positions, and with the Power's help she could propel herself in a burst of energy to become a living weapon.

They handled this group like all the ones before it. The Power hummed and crackled through the air as they harnessed its strength as their weapon. Kimberly blazed through the melee in a blur of deadly intensity. She would slam through a few of the beasts, bounce off another and high into the air, dive bomb into another crowd, then burst through some more of them. Her eyes caught sight of a particularly nasty monster that resembled a gigantic snake menacing Aisha. _'You're going down, scale-breath!'_ She charged at him from thirty feet in the air, building speed and force as she went....

Which made the slam of the snake-monster's hand into her throat even more painful. Energy that should have been used in her attack surged back through her body as it seemed her plan was backfired straight into her body. Aisha took aim to help her friend, but another monster knocked her and her shot off balance. Kimberly gasped for oxygen as the grip on her throat tightened.

A loud roar of "Kimberly!" and the sound of steel cutting flesh identified the shadowy blur in her vision as Tommy. She tried to croak out his name, begging for help. Concentration was nearly impossible. Her speed had been too great. It looked as if she had dug her own grave. There was no way her husband could get to her in time...

A bright flash of light appeared just barely before a sword embedded itself in the monster's head, forcing it to drop Kimberly. She could make out Tommy's armored form kneeling over her.

"Kim! Are you okay?"

"*cough* Yeah. I'll be fine." He helped her to her feet before pulling his weapon from the skull of the slain beast. His back stayed to her as he circled around, brandishing the sword as a threat to anyone that came near.

The remainder of the battle was fought valiantly. Each Ranger had healed well from their previous injuries due both to the Power's acceleration and the constant abuse that they had already become accustomed to in past years. It wasn't much longer before the storm drains of Angel Grove were once again filled with the blood of the Battalion. And standing amidst the chaos stood six Power Rangers, out of breath and feeling the first pangs of exhaustion beginning to set in. "Aww, no more?" Rocky joked half-heartedly.

It was then that three figures shimmered into being before them.

"You had to open your big mouth."

******************************

"No. This is impossible!"

Trey looked over his counterpart's shoulder at the viewscreen before turning a shade of pale nearly undiscovered by humanoids. "By the Power..."

__

To Be Continued....


	4. The First Battle

**__**

Disclaimer: Ch. 1. I own Dai'rak, Sektarus, Akeras, and the Battalion.

****

Author's Note: Thanks go out to Rach, my one and only repeat reviewer! This one's for you!

"Does anybody have an idea about who or what **this** is?"

Rocky's question referred to the three figures that had just appeared before them. Each one was clad in black armor that matched the Rangers' almost perfectly, except for the silver around the joints and the colors of their visors. One was a crimson, fiery red. Another was a deep and royal purple. The third figure bore a green so dark it almost blended into the rest of the helmet.

Tommy took position in front of the group. "I don't know, but I'm pretty sure they mean trouble."

"Should we break out the weapons again?"

"Not yet, Zack. Let's see what these guys are all about." His hands moved to a guard position. "Rocky and Aisha, break right. Jason and Kimberly, break left. Zack, you're with me." Before Tommy could give a final command, their three opponents charged. The Rangers broke into their groups for battle.

Rocky leapt into a well-mastered spinning heel kick aimed at Purple Visor's head. His target rolled under the attack and swept his legs out from under him as soon as he landed. Aisha came from behind to try a quick surprise attack, only to meet a harsh elbow with her stomach. She blocked the follow-up knee and continued to parry several more punches and kicks. Her eyes caught sight of Rocky moving to her aid. If she could just keep the attacker's focus long enough, he could probably get a few good hits in...

Purple caught them both off guard by flipping over Aisha and using her body to deflect Rocky's punch. She rolled with the misplaced blow and managed to fire off a small energy blast from her gloves. It was blocked, but the force stunned its target long enough for Rocky to deliver a flying kick that summoned sparks upon contact with Purple's armor. The two Rangers stepped back to catch their breath and plan their next move.

Meanwhile, Jason and Kimberly had their hands full with Green Visor. It seemed that neither side could gain an advantage. Each time Jason tried one of his most complicated martial arts maneuvers, his target managed to dodge out of the way in time to block another attack from Kimberly. Their opponent was in possession of seemingly endless reserves of energy. It was like trying to hit a super-charged monster who refused to sit still.

Kimberly flipped in a forward crescent-kick that missed by bare inches, then jumped over her target and attempted a heel strike that went straight upward. Had it connected, the sheer angle and force of the blow would have been enough to stun even another Ranger. She was surprised, however, to find herself off balance with one foot held in mid-air and another coming straight into her rib cage. The attack knocked her to the ground with sharp bursts of pain running through her right lung.

Green blocked several punches from Jason with the fastest moving forearms the Ranger had ever seen before grabbing his arms in a deadlock cross, throwing them upward and slamming a foot into his stomach. He rolled back to his feet and charged again. His legs surged with power as he landed a furious sequence of kicks that knocked the object of the attack into a nearby building's wall. Jason charged his fist with the Power and thrust a punch directly at Green's head. Green managed to dodge the blow and let his fist go through the wall. A knee embedded itself into Jason's armored stomach, doubling him over.

It was then that Kimberly rejoined the fight. She dived for the attacker in a surge of Power that left both of them kneeling with bolts of energy still coursing through their bodies. Kimberly was the first to stand. She jumped forward, locked her legs around her opponent's neck, and flipped backwards to release the unfortunate soul in a powerful gymnastic throw she had learned years before. To her surprise, however, Green simply rolled back up, channeling the remaining energy bolts through the dark armor and sending them straight towards her and Jason.

Both Rangers forced themselves back up. Jason coughed. "Can't say I saw that one coming." Anger began creeping into his voice. He didn't like taking this kind of beating, especially not from such a Ranger impersonator!

Kimberly nodded. She had a feeling it was only beginning.

******************************

High above Earth, two figures watched the battle play out with great interest. One of them was a mass of pure darkness with what seemed to be holes in the very fabric of space where eyes should be. The other was a lizard-like humanoid with clawed armor.

"They are strong. The _Dai'rak_ have difficulty gaining an advantage."

"Give them time, Akeras. It is only their first battle. I expect them to defeat these empowered momentarily."

******************************

Tommy pressed himself against a nearby car, trying to give himself enough leverage to stand. Whoever was behind that red visor, they were **good**. He watched as Zack managed to land a few hits before getting knocked down. Tommy focused a small burst of power through his hand and sent it directly into Red Visor's helmet. It knocked him off balance enough for Zack to recover and join Tommy's side.

"Man, we're gettin' nailed here. We need to do something!"

__

'He's right. If this keeps up we're likely to get beaten down even worse.' Tommy stood facing their opponent. It was a stare-down of wills. Both wanted to see who would make the first move. _'I can't break my focus. If I make even one mistake, it can be countered and used against me. Every move has a way to backfire.'_ He contemplated summoning the Rangers to form-up on his position, see if they could take them on as a team. _'No. If I take the time to try communicating that to them, somebody could be hurt.'_ The sight of Kimberly being held by her throat at the hands of a serpentine monster crashed into his mind. At that time, Tommy Oliver made the worst mistake in his life.

He blinked.

Everything seemed to slow down at that moment. When his eyelids opened he could see his attacker already taking to the air. Zack shouted something at him. He couldn't hear it. Every part of him was focused on the motions of the figure soaring above him. He could distantly feel his arm coming up in a block to a kick he could only sense coming. It was like his brain was watching what his body did. His mind had only been in this place a few times, and it meant one of two things: he was either subconsciously distancing himself from pain he knew was about to come, or the Power had intensified him so much that everything had begun moving at a snail's pace.

This time, unfortunately, it was not the latter.

A white-hot needle of pain pierced its way into the side of his neck. Stars exploded before his vision as he felt his body shake with the impact of blow after blow. Even the hits he managed to block by only a slight margin brought him to a more conscious level of pain. Zack jumped in to divide Red's attention and take some of the pressure off of Tommy, but enough remained that the pain was increasing. A burning sensation coiled up in Tommy's insides. He tried to tamp it down. He had to fight with control, figure out a strategy that would help them take out their opponent with as little damage.....

__

'Screw it.'

Every bit of feral instinct residing inside of Tommy burst out in one savage yell. His vision closed in until it became a tunnel that led directly to that mocking red visor. His body shed all feeling but that of pure rage burning a black hole inside of him. Every kata he had ever learned flooded back and merged into one sequence that he used to move forward, back, sideways, attack! Attack! Block! Parry! Strike! Parry! Dodge! All of it became a blur of darkness until a blast of energy threw him into the air.

"Tommy! You okay, man?"

His vision cleared to find Zack grasping his arm and hauling him to his feet. He looked around to find the other four Rangers pulling themselves up. It dawned on him what had just happened.

__

'I lost it. I nearly lost my mind to that fury...If that blast hadn't hit me, I probably would have kept going until...'

"Weapons out, everybody!" Jason saw Tommy's hesitation. He knew what it was like coming down from such a battle lust. They had to either back out or pick up the pace to end this fight soon. Everyone's concentration was affected from a lack of sleep the Battalion attack the night before had caused. If things didn't shape up soon...

Well, odds were it would be a short obituary.

The Rangers brought out their own melee weapons and held them ready. It was a tense wait as they stood on their guard, waiting to deflect an attack at the slightest movement. But the three figures simply stood there. It was as if they were analyzing the Rangers.

Zack felt every muscle in his body begin to twitch in anticipation. It had been ages since he had fought something this tough. _'Even going one-on-one with the Peckster was better than this.'_ He gripped his axe tighter, trying to will away some of the anxiety. _'Have to focus. C'mon, Zack-man. You can do this.'_

Aisha kept herself in a low standing position. Staying with the animals in Africa had taught her to make herself seem as non-threatening as possible. _'If I can make them lose sight of me, break their interest, maybe I can pay back that purple visor wearing SOB.'_ Long blades extended from the armor of her forearms.

Kimberly held an energy drawstring of her bow taught. She would only have time for one shot, judging from the way they moved. _'Which is exactly why I morphed this thing with enough of a point on its edges to do some pretty major damage...if I can actually manage to hit somebody with it.'_ As far as she was concerned, anybody that could lay out Jason like Green had was definitely someone who was trouble with a capital T.

Minutes ticked by. The Rangers were still standing, staring, waiting. Their opponents would make the first move. They **had** to. Head-on combat hadn't worked, so they were working on strategy and instinct now. Weapons might give them an advantage if they could press it just right. This fight could still be won if they figured out what they were doing wrong. Those were two big "ifs" that they couldn't really afford to take chances on, however.

"Break on three," Jason's voice came in over their helmet-comms. "I want a full on charge straight for them. See if you can give Kimberly an open shot. Whatever you do, stay calm."

Tommy knew that the last part had been more directed at him than anyone else. What made it worse was that he knew Jason was right. They needed him with all of his mental capabilities at hand for this. He could hear the count beginning. The handle of his sword found a more comfortable position as he shifted both hands around it. Fatigue from both the night before and today's battles was kicking in with a vengeance. He shook his head to clear it.

"Three!"

Five Rangers charged their three opponents as Kimberly set three arrows in her bow. She pulled it on its side and launched all three simultaneously. Two of them impacted against their targets. Purple had made an astonishingly quick leap high into the air and was coming straight for her, but Rocky jumped high and landed a high kick that sent the challenger crashing to the concrete. He landed with barely a clack of his boots and pinned his target with his staff, blades surrounding the fallen foe's helmet. A sneer crossed his lips underneath the armor. 

"Payback's a bitch, ain't it?" At that he began to spin the blades directly into Purple's shoulders. Sparks began to jump from the clashing of Powers. Rocky saw a quick blur, then paused as a scream echoed in his ears. Somehow Purple had switched places with Kimberly, and his blades were digging through her armor! He yanked the staff away and stood up. Another blur passed across his vision and Kimberly was back where she had been, not a scratch on her armor. Rocky was too slow to dodge or block the kick that sent him reeling about five feet. A staff coalesced into form behind Purple's back. It was grabbed and used to deflect several arrows from Kimberly before sending a blast of energy straight into her kneecap, then it was pressed against Rocky's neck, pinning him to the ground.

"So am I, Ranger."

__

'Holy...it's a...!' He couldn't even wrap a conscious thought about it through the pain of the staff pressing against his windpipe, but part of him did manage to process the information.

Rocky DeSantos was officially getting his butt kicked by a female.

******************************

"Their power levels are decreasing too fast!"

"Boost them as much as you can."

"Trey, if we give them any more power, we could lose the ability to shield ourselves from detection."

Blast it. First the arrival and now this. "Bring them back."

"I can't. Something's jamming us. It'll take a while to break through."

"Do what you can. The Rangers need to know what they're up against."

******************************

Zack reeled backwards from the jarring tornado kick Red had just subjected him to. He could feel his Powers struggling to keep intact. _'We're really taking a pounding here!'_ Helping Jason back to his feet, he tried to summon enough power to give him another weapon.

"I don't get it. How are they knocking us around like this?" Frustration burned through Jason's voice. He spun his sword in a few circles before moving into another attack stance. "No more messin' around! I'm taking this guy out!"

__

'No use trying to stop him.' Suppressing an inward shrug, Zack followed his companion. They charged straight into Red's weaponless assault at full tilt. Jason slammed his blade in a heavy downward strike that was blocked by his opponent's arms, but it kept enough pressure that Red had to kneel in order to support it. Zack managed to summon a small charge of energy to propel him in a sliding kick that knocked its target across the asphalt. 

It began as pure momentum, but it soon became clear to both Rangers that their adversary had begun using that momentum to stand again, twin katana blades extending from the waist and finding their way into Red's hands. They exchanged a glance.

"Can you get some kind of weapon out, Zack?" He shook his head. "Alright. Go help Kimberly and Rocky. See if Tommy can get over here." At that they split paths. Zack ran his way over to a pinned Rocky and disabled Kimberly, yelling at Tommy to break off his fight with Green to help his friend.

Jason waited this time. _'I have to conserve my energy. Even now I can feel my Powers starting to flicker, like somebody's messing with the electricity. Better play it smart until help comes.'_ Red, however, would not be so patient. It was barely within the space of a half-second before the two clashed. They spun, sliced, parried, and twirled with all the ferocity and grace one would expect from master sword wielders. Sometimes the weapons clashed so harshly that sparks jumped from the opposing metals. Jason leaned in as they locked weapons again. "You won't win," he grunted.

There was a deep growl. "We'll see about that, Ranger." Red used one katana to pin Jason's sword point to the ground, then brought the other down hard, shattering the blade. One half fell and dissipated into the air. The other remained in Jason's hand as he backed away. The pain was excruciating! It was as if a part of his insides had been ripped straight through bone and skin and left a gaping open wound in his stomach. His only relief was the slash of Red's blades across his body, an attack that left him lying there, at his antagonist's mercy.

******************************

Tommy saw the attack on his best friend. The carnal rage flared up inside of him again, but he viciously tamped it down. He had to focus on Green, who had pulled two five-pronged daggers from the wrists and was continuing to keep himself and Aisha occupied. They couldn't last much longer, though. He knew the other Rangers had to be feeling their Powers drain as well. It was throwing them off. They weren't used to fighting without as much of the Power backing them. _'I know the feeling all too well, which explains why I can still keep going for a little longer. But we have to get out of this fast before our Powers completely bail on us. God knows how long it would take for them to recharge then.'_ He stopped one dagger with his sword and grabbed Green's wrist with his other hand. Aisha came in high with both arm blades ready for a piercing strike at the shoulders. Green leaned forward and hammered her with a back kick. Crackling energy formed at the dagger points and hurtled into Tommy. He crashed to the ground, his sword disappearing in a pulse of color. The fingers on his gloves felt like they were being set on fire. A close look at them revealed the reason. Little rings of orange had formed around each finger and began traveling down, the armor disappearing behind them. He was demorphing.

The three warriors stood over the fallen Rangers. Red aimed a katana at Tommy's throat. 

"Today we leave a message for your prince. None shall stand against Sektarus and the power of the _Dai'rak_!" He raised the weapon high and struck hard...

...Just as the Rangers vanished in dark streaks of teleportation.

"NO!" Red screamed. "You can not escape us so easily!"

"Calm down," Purple interrupted her companion's tirade. "We'll get them next time."

The three of them dematerialized their weapons. "They won't stand for long," Green said.

And then, they were gone.

******************************

Trey looked at the six battered forms laying on the floor of the Command Center. They were all either supporting themselves against consoles or laying flat with icepacks stuck in various places. It was, all in all, a rather pitiful sight.

"What **were** those things?" Rocky asked no one in particular.

"You said they called themselves the _Dai'rak_?" Not quite understanding the question, Jason nodded. Trey began to pace. "In ancient Triforian, the term _Dai'rak_ literally translates to 'Soul Power'. Legends mention mystical beings who harnessed powers beyond understanding with their own unique soul energy. It's supposedly how the first Power Rangers were formed on our planet."

"What does this have to do with those three that we fought today?"

"I'm afraid that's the bad news. Before the invasion, there was a program beginning to construct a power source that could merge with an individual's exclusive biorhythm. It was kind of like merging a person with the Morphin' Grid. They tried to specify the Powers, giving the user control over certain aspects of the Grid. Instead of limiting the abilities to only one user, the pattern was expanded. Biorhythms could hold only a minor similarity and the power supply could still be used." He paused and let his gaze sweep across the room of overcome heroes. "It would appear that Sektarus has stolen the power source and has found a trio to use it for his own purposes."

Jason managed to shift his position without too much discomfort. "You said they could control specific abilities. Do you know which abilities these three have?"

"Judging from scans taken during your battle, I think I've been able to narrow it down. Shadow, Energy, and Illusion."

"Anything else you can tell us?"  


"I'm afraid not, Aisha. I don't know entirely what those powers entail. I do know that you should be careful in future confrontations. Both together and alone they were formidable opponents." His eyes took on a deep look of compassion. "All of you need rest. Go. I'll see if there's anything new I can find out from Triforian archives."

******************************

He pounded the bag again and again. It didn't matter how much his muscles ached. It didn't matter how much he wanted so badly to stop. He couldn't. Not with the image still in his mind. Her scream still echoed in his ears. _'No! I won't let it happen again!'_ He emphasized each word of the thought with a punch. Sweat trickled down his forehead, its salty taste flowing into his mouth. He kept on punching. The darkness was encompassing. He could think better in the dark.

"I think you've killed it enough times, Tommy." Rocky's voice brought him out of his reverie. The other Ranger brought the lights up to dimly illuminate the rec. room.

"It doesn't matter. I can't stop." He took a deep, panting breath. "It's like I keep seeing her, over and over again, and there's nothing I can do to stop it."

Rocky nodded. He didn't need to know who Tommy meant. "I can't say I know entirely how you feel. I wish I did, man. I wish I could find somebody to be with like you and Kimberly. For all that, though, I do know at least a part of it. When we were fighting today, I think that purple visor chick pulled some kind of mind trick on me. It was like I had her pinned, then she switched places with Kimberly. As soon as I backed off it was like she switched again and had me nailed to the ground."

"I guess that's the Illusion power. She must've made you think it was Kim long enough to get you off of her."

"Yeah, maybe." The two men stood in silence for a while. "Well, if you're busy here I think I'll go find another spot to work out in..."  


"No, it's okay. I think I should get a shower and get back to bed before she worries." Rocky nodded. "Be sure to get yourself some rest, too. We need to be ready for tomorrow."

"Yes sir, Captain Colorful." A joking expression he hated. Even completed with a mock salute.

Part of him laughed.

******************************

It was like their minds were divided. He could see it in the way they stood. Sometimes one of them would step forward as if in preparation for an attempt on his life. A glance from always sent them back.

Part of him was disgusted that Sektarus had done this. He preferred soldiers who were fully willing to go into battle, fully willing to serve. Sometimes even fully willing to die. These beings....they were fighting against fighting. They wanted out of this forced servitude. His scaled mouth turned upward in a grin. They would get their wish.

After the empowered were destroyed.


	5. Know Thy Enemy

Disclaimer: You've seen it.  
  
AN: Sorry about the updates being so sporadic. Life has a way of throwing things at ya, y'know? Anyway, enjoy.  
  
The hologram flickered to life before them, displaying the image of three figures clad in armor similar to their own. One bore a red visor, another was purple, and the final was green. Even the translucent projection couldn't hide their fierceness as the previous day's events were played out.  
  
"This is a holo-record of your fight with the Dai'rak." Trey stood behind the semicircle of Rangers seated around the table. It was one of the first times anyone had seem him even the slightest bit disheveled, though he composed himself as if he hadn't spent the entire night poring over every archive he could find that might have the smallest mention of their new opponents. "You may have already figured out the powers of each. Purple apparently holds the ability to cast illusions on one's mind..." Rocky shuddered. He still remembered seeing the image of Kimberly trapped beneath the lethal blades of his staff. For a split second he had lost all focus on the battle. The mistake had cost him.  
  
"Green has shown the properties of energy control...." Kimberly and Jason had experienced that firsthand. Green had turned the energy from a charge attack straight back at them and nearly knocked them senseless. "So that leaves the Red visor in control of Shadow, which I'm sorry to say I have no clue about. There's no record of these powers in any of my files, and since he hasn't used them to their full extent yet, I think it's best to consider him more unpredictable than the others." The hologram shrunk back into the table. Trey turned to Tommy. "How is Kimberly doing?"  
  
The Native American sighed. "Not good. Her kneecap is pretty much dislocated. If it weren't for her Powers it would have shattered completely. I think she's probably going to be on ice for at least another couple of days."  
  
Jason nodded. He had joined his friend in scanning her condition. "That leaves us one Ranger short."  
  
"Which is something we really don't need right now," Zack said. Everyone nodded.  
  
"Maybe we could call in a replacement," Aisha suggested. "Y'know, another former Ranger."  
  
Trey shook his head. "I don't want to get anyone else involved unless I absolutely have to. Bringing a civilian in at this point could very well alert Sektarus. If he knows the identity of even one of you, he could find ways to trace everyone else."  
  
Something occurred to Rocky. "Let's not forget that if this guy finds out we're recruiting, he'll know we're at a disadvantage. Even Rita and Zedd wouldn't have been stupid enough not to press that."  
  
'What do we do?' It was the question that weighed on everyone's minds. How could they go into battle against the Dai'rak again without Kimberly? They had been beaten to within an inch of their lives the last time.  
  
"First order of business needs to be arranging things so we can stay out longer." The group agreed with Jason's suggestion. "We need to break. Call whoever you have to and organize your plans around fight time and the Command Center. Get whoever you can to cover for you."  
  
"I can wire your communications through the Center's." Trey led the group out toward the main chamber.  
  
************************  
  
"Come on. Pick up!" Rocky waited past the fourth ring when the sound of someone coming over the line was heard. "Finally!" But it wasn't what he expected.  
  
"Hi, you've reached the home of Adam Park. Leave a message and I'll get back as soon as I can. Bye!"  
  
He muttered a curse. "Adam it's me, Rocky. Look, I'm gonna need you to cover my classes for a while. Something came up. Y'know...business." He emphasized the last word. Hopefully his friend would get the point. The connection was dropped. Something funny was going on. Adam never left without letting him know about it in advance. He was pretty sure nothing had been said yesterday...  
  
"Geez, Adam, where are you?"  
  
************************  
  
"Angel Grove Sporting Goods, how can I help you?"  
  
"Hi, is Katherine Hilliard there?"  
  
"Nope. She called in sick this morning. Some kind of bug. Said she probably wasn't gonna be back for a while."  
  
"Oh. Well, thanks anyway." Tommy cut the line. 'That was weird. I already checked our messages. Katherine didn't say anything about being sick. Maybe I better try her place and see how bad it is.' He punched Kat's number in on the console. Four rings and one answering machine message later left him no closer.  
  
'Man, where could she be?'  
  
************************  
  
A warning tone sounded from one of the consoles, catching Trey's attention. He turned to its operator. "It's them, isn't it?"  
  
"Yes. They're right in the middle of the city. It doesn't look like they're attacking anything, though. They're just.... Wait. I'm picking up another group of signals." There was a pause. He hoped this time they'd be able to decipher what the signal was. "It's Battalion forces."  
  
He brought the image up on his own screen. "Looks like they're pretty busy."  
  
"I wonder what they've got on their minds."  
  
"Trouble. Patch me through the intercom to the Rangers."  
  
************************  
  
"How're you feeling?"  
  
Kimberly looked up at the figure of her husband standing in the doorway. "Better. I think I'll be on my feet sooner than we planned." She caught the look of sorrow in his eye. "Tommy, stop it. You can't beat yourself up over every little thing that happens to me."  
  
'Damn, she's gotten good at this.' Even Jason hadn't noticed the guilt he felt. "Sorry. I just don't like the situation, that's all."  
  
The brunette sighed. "I know it's bad, but we'll get through it. We always have." He had walked over to her bedside now. She took his hand in hers. "In sickness and in health, 'til death do us part, remember?"  
  
He smiled at her. "Even I could never forget that, Beautiful. I just don't want that last bit to happen any sooner than it has to."  
  
+Rangers, the Dai'rak have returned to the city. There are Battalion forces with them. Take care of it, but be cautious.+  
  
Tommy glanced an apology at his wife. She nodded. "Go. The others need you." Her only reply was a nod as he stood up and activated his morpher, then disappeared in a flash of black light.  
  
************************  
  
Red growled. "Where are they? Nobody is this slow."  
  
"Will you relax?" Purple scolded. "We're here to make sure this Harvester goes up properly. If the Rangers come, then we can think about fighting. Not a minute before."  
  
A hideous insect-looking Battalion member came up to the three Dai'rak. "Everything is prepared and we are ready to place the core inside." They nodded him away. It was a mundane task, to tell the truth. Especially for ones possessing their capabilities.  
  
Green twitched. "They're here."  
  
"Excellent." Red already had his twin katana blades out. "Point me to them."  
  
Purple summoned her staff. "Sektarus told us not to engage unless they made the first move."  
  
Green stood still for a moment, and the other two could see the energy collecting around them. "They made the first move by showing up. Now they're spying. I can detect their energy signatures on top of that office building." A blast of power was sent in the direction of the sheltering structure. "There. Now it looks like we can properly greet our company."  
  
It wasn't long before the Rangers showed up. They pulled a short-range teleport and appeared just down the street not more than fifteen feet away, already armed and in combat stances.  
  
"You're one short," Red called to them.  
  
Tommy stepped forward. The sight of Kimberly going down yesterday flashed into his mind. He pointed his sword at Purple, claiming his target.  
  
Jason was next, and he aimed his look directly at Green. 'Time to return yesterday's favor.'  
  
The two leaders charged their respective opponents. Rocky, Aisha, and Zack followed close behind. They were prepared to switch off if any one of them was in particular trouble. Teamwork was of utmost importance now.  
  
They had to unite, or they would fall.  
  
************************  
  
"Stop all programs and begin scanning those three."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Just do it. These are Triforian Powers, which means we've got a lot to deal with. I want to know as much as we can about them. Shut down the shielding program if you have to."  
  
"Trey, that would leave us wide open to attack! If Sektarus finds us..."  
  
He held up a hand to forestall any further comment. "You're right. I'm sorry. Don't go that far. Just shut down all nonessential systems and scan the Dai'rak on every possible frequency."  
  
"Starting now."  
  
************************  
  
Aisha and Rocky flipped over Red and landed on both sides of him. He used his katana to block their attacks with an almost fluid ease. The blades on Rocky's staff began to spin. 'Maybe I can use these to knock him a little more off balance.' Both Rangers stepped up their attack, changing their angle just slightly so they could drive their target closer to a building's wall. Aisha used a blade on her forearm to take hold of Red's katana and morphed a cannon onto her other arm. She fired a streaming blast that pinned its receiver against the wall.  
  
Rocky sped toward the temporarily captive Dai'rak. The beam would only be kept up for a short while so Aisha could conserve her power if the maneuver didn't work. A bare millisecond after the energy was cut Rocky drove his blade straight for his opponent, only to have it come in contact with sheer granite. He stared in shock. There was no way anyone could move that fast!  
  
A small shift below him caught his eye. When he looked, Rocky saw a pure black shadow moving along the ground, straight towards Aisha! "Beneath you!" There was no time to make any other statement as a katana emerged from the shadow and swiped the woman's legs out from under her. Rocky sent a claw of energy along the ground that knocked the deadly weapon away just before his fellow Ranger was impaled upon it.  
  
"You are beginning to become a thorn in my side, Ranger." Red emerged from the shadow, standing calmly above Aisha. "I think it's time to decrease your numbers a little more."  
  
'Friend.... Hurt...No!' There was no full thought running through his mind, nothing intelligible, only the pressing need to help his friend. Emotion made him run. Emotion made his staff into an energized drill. Emotion made it bore into Red's back. It was emotion that sped his reactions enough to the point that he actually managed to stay on the attack. Aisha rose to her feet and began to help him. They were keeping Red off-balance now, altering their styles enough to keep him guessing. Things were finally beginning to go their way.  
  
************************  
  
"What's taking so long?"  
  
"I'm working as fast as I can. Something's jamming our signal again."  
  
Trey rubbed the bridge of his nose. The Rangers were doing well so far, but they couldn't be expected to keep that up forever. Hopefully physical scans could reveal what kind of technique they were using and perhaps even find a way to counteract the Dai'rak Powers.  
  
"Keep trying."  
  
************************  
  
Tommy reeled from a blast across his chest. He was fighting two battles for control at the same time. Part of him wanted to break out, to lose it and just do whatever came natural. Underneath the helmet he grit his teeth. 'Can't let anger take control. Have to fight it.' Purple sent another blast from her staff. He rolled to the side and pulsed energy through his sword. More energy collected at his feet. 'Only got one shot at this...'  
  
A flash of light was the only warning that he was even coming. Combusted energy propelled him forward as beams lanced out from his blade. Several of them struck Purple and twisted her sideways. She managed to spin with the blow of Tommy's sword and steady herself in a crouching position. The action paused as she focused on her target.  
  
There was a buzzing in the back of Tommy's head. He shook it violently, trying to clear out the intruding sensation. It stopped seconds later. Gloved hands gripped his sword tighter. "I don't know what the hell it is you just tried to do, but it's not gonna work!  
  
Purple regained her footing and charged him. One end of her staff planted itself in the ground and she used it to propel herself into a flying kick aimed straight at her target's head. Tommy rolled underneath the attack and stood with an upward swipe that missed by mere centimeters. His upper body twisted in one direction to block a strike toward his legs, then the other to stop an attack to the shoulders, then back again to slash sideways across Purple's stomach. He dived at her sword-first. She barely managed to catch his weapon on hers and hold him off.  
  
The buzzing sensation returned, even fiercer than before. Tommy pressed down harder. He began angling the blade at his opponent's head. "Stop it!" he yelled. It was almost becoming painful, like a scorpion that kept stinging his brain over and over again.  
  
Zack's smoking figure crashed into him. Limbs entangled and left the two laying on the asphalt, completely immobile.  
  
************************  
  
Minutes earlier...  
  
Jason and Zack crouched behind a small yellow Volkswagen Beetle. They were currently taking cover from an insane barrage of energy pellets being launched straight from Green's palms. The two Rangers looked at each other.  
  
"You got a plan, Jase?"  
  
He nodded. "I think so. Dangerous and a little crazy, though."  
  
"You mean there's any other kind of plan?"  
  
Both of them smiled underneath their helmets. "Fire a blast under the car. I'll do what I can to throw our little friend off balance, then you come in with your axe. Got it?"  
  
The African-American only clapped his hands as deep black energy began forming between the palms. "Make it quick, because I'm not waiting for your slow ass to get out of the way."  
  
"Screw you."  
  
"Exit only, man."  
  
A part of Jason's mind, what some people would call the more sane part, was wondering exactly how he could make and take jokes at a time like this. He knew it was absolutely crazy. 'I guess it's just something we got used to over the years.' They all hated to think they had been desensitized, but sometimes truth was something you had to face.  
  
He shook his head. There would be time to deal with morality issues later, preferably over a nice hot cup of coffee with a very pretty girl.  
  
"NOW!"  
  
Zack fired a wide disc of energy along the underside of the tiny Volkswagen and straight into Green's shins. Jason launched himself over the car, charging his body with energy and propelling it straight at his target. He was mere inches away before he cut the charge completely and came in with a powerful right hook that knocked the armored figure from one direction to the other. It came as a surprise to him that no bones were snapped from the whiplash effect.  
  
An even bigger surprise came in the form of four blades grabbing the sides of his neck. Green had rolled with the blow and pulled out two five-pronged sai. The four smaller prongs of one of the weapons were what had gripped him. Surges of Power traveled along the line and began electrocuting him. His vocal chords constricted, allowing no sound to travel out through the pain.  
  
It was now that Zack dashed across the asphalt with a large axe raised high. He gave out one loud "Kiyah!" before leaping into the air and preparing for a downward swipe strong enough to cleave a Zord in half.  
  
No warning came to tell him of the other sai's four prongs careening straight for him. There was no chance to avoid their vice-like grip on his ankle. Even worse, there was nothing he could do to stop the rippling charge of deadly energy that shocked his entire system through and through.  
  
The wires that connected the prongs to their sai yanked Zack's spastic body through the air before he was released to go colliding into Tommy.  
  
************************  
  
Rocky raised his staff high to block a downward swipe, then twirled it to spin both of Red's katana so that his arms crossed his chest. In a blur of movement Red managed to twist out of the maneuver and bring both blades to bear on Rocky's left side. He knocked them away and side-kicked his opponent in the ribcage. Aisha fired several blasts of energy that knocked him into the air.  
  
Out of the corner of his eye, Rocky managed to catch sight of Zack's aerial incident. A sigh came out of his mouth as he analyzed the situation. 'We are going to be so screwed if things don't look up.' He summoned Aisha on a private comm channel. "Go help Jason. Give him a chance to recover, then see if you need to assist Zack and Tommy. I'll take care of Red."  
  
His companion nodded, then pulled a short-range teleport over to where Green was holding Jason.  
  
Rocky turned to continue his attack...but Red was gone. Nowhere in sight. 'Uh-oh. I'll bet he pulled that shadow trick again. He could be anywhere by now!' There wasn't time for him to search manually, not with his friends in danger. 'Alright, then. Let's see if I can still remember how to activate this thing...'  
  
There was a dark flash of light that formed into a thin silver visor over his helmet. A readout in the lower corner of his display read POWER SCOPE ACTIVATED: THERMAL SCAN ENGAGED. Everything became awash with various shades of red, blue, and orange. A small targeting box began scrolling across his field of vision. It bounced around for a few moments before locking on to a form outlined on the wall of an office building. Rocky smiled under his helmet.  
  
'You can run, but you can't hide.'  
  
************************  
  
Tommy rolled Zack's unconscious form off of him. 'Geez, Zack-man. I think it's time you laid off the banana splits!' He slowly rose to his feet, clutching his sword tightly. 'Alright, where'd that mind-screwing, purple-wearing freak get off to?'  
  
"Tommy! Help us out here!"  
  
The scream turned his attention to the side. He was about to charge, combat-ready, when a sense of confusion crashed his senses. Not far away was Aisha...  
  
...Fighting off nothing but air.  
  
"They're everywhere!" she screamed. Genuine fear permeated her voice. It was as if she was really under attack, but there was no one there!  
  
It was then that his eyes caught sight of Jason, still being held captive by the electrified prongs around his neck. If not for the Power he probably would have suspected his best friend of being dead by now. Standing next to him were Purple and Green. They were obviously smug about something...  
  
'Wait a second! Purple's Power is illusion! I'll bet she's using it on Aisha!' Tommy instinctively charged. He didn't have any particular plan, except for distracting the two Dai'rak long enough for his fellow Ranger to regain her wits.  
  
His sword arm moved in a blur of deadly intensity. Sparks flew as steel met armor. He performed a running upward slash that struck Purple across the chest, then turned and stabbed backward, cutting a thin line straight through her armor with the tip of his blade. A well-placed crouching leg sweep knocked her to the pavement. The follow-through carried him back to a standing position facing Green, who launched the four prongs that had grabbed Zack earlier. Tommy deflected two with his sword and rolled under the other two. He brought his sword up in a powerful swipe that cut the prongs from Jason's neck. A quick grip adjustment so that his sword was once again in a standard position and he tore a deep gash down Green's back side.  
  
"Aisha! Grab Zack and bring him over here! We need to get him and Jason out of here now!"  
  
Jason grabbed his forearm. "No way," he rasped. "I'm staying."  
  
Tommy took his friend's gloved hand and held it tight. "Sorry, bro. Executive leader decision. You both need medical attention."  
  
Aisha managed to hoist Zack in her arms and carry him over. "Hey, where's Rocky?"  
  
************************  
  
"Trey! We have a problem!"  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Something's got a hold of our scanning program, and it's backtracking the signal! If that's Sektarus, he could find out where we are!"  
  
"How much do you have on the Dai'rak?"  
  
"I won't know until we check the data files. I've been sending it all directly into file storage."  
  
"Alright. Stop the program and teleport the Rangers back now."  
  
************************  
  
Akeras studied the situation through the viewscreen. "They'll leave before the battle is finished, my lord. How can this be acceptable?"  
  
Sektarus turned both black, dismal eyes at his underling. "It is allowed in their form to regroup if injury has occurred to one or more of their number." His gaze shifted to a nearby servant crouching at a computer station. "What is the status of the connection trace?"  
  
"Nearly finished, m'lord. We will have their location in..." The monster stopped suddenly, a look of dread coming over what passed for its face. "Wha...? No. Nononononononononono NO!"  
  
"What is happening?" Sektarus growled. The creature made a gulping noise.  
  
"S...something...backfired th...the trace, sir. We...we lost it before we could pinpoint their location. And the empowered, they...they vanished."  
  
Black flared into bright red, burning inside of Sektarus' eyes. "WHAT?!" Dark strands of energy crackled around him for several moments as a deep growl of displeasure rose from the monstrosity. Akeras felt a slight quiver of fear at the sight. No one, not even a trusted warrior such as himself, was stupid enough to speak when his commander was in such a rage. It seemingly took an eternity for the dark force to calm down enough to speak civilly. "What area did the trace lead us to before it was broken?"  
  
"A great desert outside of the city we have been focusing our assault on, Lord Sektarus."  
  
"Very well. You have done your duty in remembering that location. Now go."  
  
As soon as the underling was out of sight, Akeras stepped up. He knew his place well enough to estimate when his services were needed. "What now, my lord?"  
  
A sound almost similar to a sigh came from the hulking mass of darkness. "Take one hundred of our remaining Battalion forces down with you and search that area. Lead them personally. I want you to find the base that they are operating out of. Eliminate anyone who crosses your path in rancor, but bring the Triforian Prince Trey to me alive."  
  
"What of the empowered?"  
  
"I will give the Dai'rak time to rest and rejuvenate. Then they will battle yet again.  
  
"To the death."  
  
************************  
  
Trey strode into the chamber purposefully. "The Rangers are being teleported back here as we speak. What have you got for me?"  
  
"Well, the good news is that I can positively say that the Dai'rak are purely Triforian. Whoever's harnessing these Powers is definitely from home. That makes it easier to narrow down a training simulation for the Rangers."  
  
He shook his head. "I don't like this. Fighting against our own people..."  
  
"It's awful, I know." There was a thoughtful pause between the two.  
  
"What about the bad news?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"You said good news, which implies that there is bad news as well."  
  
"Oh, right. Well, that's where it gets tricky. Scans of the Dai'rak brought up some interesting results. Apparently there's some kind of energy wavelength that's interfering with their normal mental patterns. I can't quite lock it down to a specific pattern, but I can tell you that it's causing some serious damage up there."  
  
Trey leaned over his companion's shoulder and read over the information on the screen. "Could it be some kind of mind control? Brain wave/impulse alteration, perhaps?"  
  
"At this point I'd say that if it wasn't, somebody did one damn good job of tricking our sensors."  
  
"Can you figure out a way to reverse it?"  
  
"Maybe. If I can't, then, well..."  
  
He nodded. It was a part of a code on Triforia, and even among the Earth Rangers if he understood correctly. They would take their own lives before serving the enemy.  
  
If they couldn't help the Dai'rak, they would kill them. 


	6. The Great Escape

Pain. Excruciating pain! It was all she felt from the wound in her back. She could barely move, it ached so much. A small gasp of hurt came from her side. "Are you okay?"  
  
"Think so. Hard to breathe."  
  
She shook her head. That Ranger had done a serious number on her companion. Both of them were lucky to be living.  
  
"Is he still alive? Last time I saw him, the Ranger with the staff was giving chase."  
  
"I'm here, unfortunately."  
  
Both females turned to their male friend. He looked to be in the best shape of them all. "Most of my wounds were superficial. I think I threw them off balance enough that they couldn't quite figure out a good strategy." They could hear him struggling against the bonds that held him to the wall. It was to no avail. They had all tried it several times in the past few hours.  
  
"Too bad we can't use those Powers to get us out of here."  
  
A small lock of black hair fell down to the side of her eye. She tried to blow it away. "Even if we could, we wouldn't get far. Sektarus isn't keeping us nourished well enough for much of an escape."  
  
"I'd rather die escaping than spend the rest of my life serving that bastard."  
  
"Speak one more word of dissent and you will be removed, slave!  
  
All three occupants of the prison turned to the lizard-like newcomer. "You wouldn't dare, Akeras," the blonde-haired woman retorted. "Sektarus needs us to use those amulets. Without a soul for them to harness and merge with, they're useless. Even you know that."  
  
The beast only growled as he walked over to her, taking her face in his scaly hand. "Perhaps. But there are other souls in the universe." A long claw trailed it's way down her face. "I could request of Lord Sektarus that he find one and release you into my custody."  
  
"You lay one hand on her and I will rip your insides out and use them to strangle you, you slime-sucking coward!"  
  
Akeras released his clutch on the female and backhanded the captive next to her. "Strong words from one in containment. Perhaps you require more treatment."  
  
The man grinned through a thin trickle of blood. "I don't think so."  
  
Bright sparks flared. A loud *CLANG* sounded. And then, Akeras was unconscious.  
  
There was a pause as the women contemplated what just happened. Their friend saved them the breath of actually asking a question.  
  
"I managed to hold on to an energy needle before we were powered down. I used it to shatter one of my wrist restraints." He was quickly beginning to unlock the other three holding him. "As for exactly how I managed to take down our visitor, well..."  
  
"Lucky shot. Now can you get us out of here?"  
  
He rolled his eyes. "Never a moment of glory."  
  
"Glory later. Escape now."  
  
It took them several minutes to force themselves free. They were about to leave when the black-haired woman stopped, her eyes on the prone form of Akeras. "He could wake up soon and alert somebody that we've escaped." Her colleagues nodded before assisting her in placing the monster into the exact same restraints they had been in moments before.  
  
"Well, hello beautiful!" the male whispered in awe. He swiped a blaster from Akeras' side. "Sardovian scatter-shot melee blaster equipped with fragmentation shells and a silenced function." There was a pause as the weapon was turned and examined. "He's even outfitted it with a pulsing stun blast strong enough to take down a hive of Varox."  
  
"Very nice. Can we go now?"  
  
The three quietly opened their prison door, surprised it wasn't booby-trapped for escapees. They quickly scanned the corridor on both sides, then moved out in the direction they hoped held a teleporter.  
  
They were on the run.  
  
****************************  
  
Kimberly eased herself into the chair, trying to keep as much pressure off of her left knee as possible. Tommy had argued with her nearly all night about attending this meeting. It was a losing battle, though. Trey had said that new data on the Dai'rak was available. They needed as much help as they could get. She knew that that would mean her morphing and going back into battle with them as soon as possible, even if she wasn't back at one hundred percent.  
  
"Good morning, Rangers." Trey strode into the briefing chamber and keyed the doors closed behind him. "I'll get right to the point. During your last encounter with the Dai'rak, I managed to perform a multi-scan on them. The data has proven to be incredibly helpful and could lead to the end of this threat." He aimed a small remote at the center of the table and pressed an activation trigger. A holographic image popped up. "This is a holographic representation of standard humanoid brain wave activity. And this..." He pressed the trigger again, altering the picture. "...is a representation of what the scans picked up on all three of the Dai'rak."  
  
"The patterns changed."  
  
Trey nodded at Aisha. "Precisely. Notice how the patterns of normal mental activity have been slowed down, almost like they're being repressed."  
  
"Gasket," Tommy practically hissed.  
  
Aisha, Kimberly, and Zack were the only ones who weren't clued in. "Gasket was part of the Machine Empire. He made up some kind of brain drain device that screwed Tommy's head up to the point that he thought the Zeo Rangers were the bad guys," Rocky explained.  
  
"Something doesn't add up, though." Jason leaned forward, studying the image. "If this is similar to what Gasket did to Tommy, then it would only last for a short period of time. Tommy broke the control after about an hour. Even without help from anybody, who's to say it would take them much longer?"  
  
"We could be way off base, though," Zack interjected. "Maybe they're not your normal run-of-the-mill people. Maybe they've been twisted from the beginning."  
  
"Either way," Trey interrupted. "their fighting style is purely Triforian. I've been able to analyze key elements of their methods and have now programmed a training simulation to adapt you to them. With any luck, when they next show themselves, you'll be ready to counteract every move they make."  
  
Kimberly smirked in anticipation. "We'll be even, then."  
  
****************************  
  
"All clear."  
  
He leaned out into the corridor, sighting along the blaster. "Looks pretty wide open. I think we might be able to make it."  
  
"Make it where?" the black-haired woman asked. "The only teleporter we know of is in the main chamber, with Sektarus and the amulets, which are most likely heavily guarded as well." There was a pause as the trio continued sneaking down the hallway. She stopped. "You've got to be kidding me. That's actually where we're going?! You're insane!"  
  
"That's never stopped me before."  
  
She turned to her other female companion. "Don't tell me you're going to go along with this."  
  
The blonde shrugged. "I suppose it might work. Like he said earlier, better to die escaping than to live in service to Sektarus." She turned to the male. "You know how to use that thing?"  
  
"Almost second nature to me."  
  
"That's what I'm afraid of."  
  
He rolled his eyes again. "Glory later, huh?"  
  
****************************  
  
Akeras hissed. The bonds holding his limbs were exceptionally tight. His throat had been made nearly raw from screaming for someone to release him before he remembered that he had ordered all units away from the cell area. He wanted to leave no chance for the captives to escape. Unfortunately, it seemed his plan worked too well. His claws couldn't reach the restraints and there was no way to unlock them from anywhere within any being's reach. He hissed again. 'The traitor stole power from the amulet, but he won't get far. No one can hold that kind of power without assistance for long. It will begin to take its toll on him soon. And then, the other traitors will be ours.'  
  
****************************  
  
He crouched next to the archway, taking a hand off of his stolen blaster and shaking it a little.  
  
"Something wrong?"  
  
"Nothing. Hand's just falling asleep. Probably from being locked up every day. Are we clear?"  
  
Both women peeked into the large room that awaited them. They nodded.  
  
"Alright. Get to the teleporter and run. I'll relay a distress signal from your location. With any luck the Rangers will pick it up. Tell them everything."  
  
It took a moment for his meaning to register before the blonde managed to say something. "You don't plan on coming with us."  
  
"Look, this isn't the time. Just get going. I'll cover your escape and get out as soon as I can."  
  
"If you think I'm going to just run off and let you kill yourself, then..."  
  
"GO!"  
  
The three of them barged into the main chamber. Cover fire was spread all across, some of it hitting Sektarus' shadowy form. Cries of rage echoed as they ran to one of the consoles and began activating it. A dark violet portal came into existence a few feet away from them.  
  
"Run for it!"  
  
The black-haired woman took a running dive straight through the portal, but the blonde stayed where she was.  
  
"I'm not leaving without you!"  
  
"Get out of here!" He shoved her into the portal and went back to firing into the throng of Battalion members that had begun swarming towards him. A quick flick of a switch and the blaster began spitting out small superheated fragments of whatever material the shells contained inside. His eyes caught sight of the pedestal that held the amulets used to transform them into the Dai'rak.  
  
"Out of the way!" He switched the blaster to stun and began pulsing low-frequency energy into the creatures around him, stepping over the twitching bodies. Claws, tentacles, and all manner of appendages began reaching towards him. He blasted them all back and managed to swipe the amulets, wrapping their chains around his wrist before turning back to run to the portal. The swirling mass of purple grew closer and closer...  
  
Until a large hand clasped around his neck and pulled him off the floor. He found himself looking into a pair of blood red eyes.  
  
"This pathetic attempt at escape will be dealt with soon enough, slave. For now, your services are required." Sektarus reached down to his wrist and snapped one of the amulets off of its chain, holding it up for the man's inspection.  
  
He paled at the sight of the three-clawed talisman. "You will pay for this!"  
  
Silence ensued as energy coursed between the two beings.   
  
"I'm sure."  
  
****************************  
  
A small alarm sounded from one of the consoles nearby. "Trey? We've got something."  
  
There was a tiny burst of static from the communicator, followed by the Triforian's voice. +What is it?+  
  
"A teleportation portal opened up not too long ago out in the park. It's strange, though. I'm only picking up two life forms. Might be a trap, but there's no secondary wavelength coming through, so it's going to either close soon or stay open for reinforcements."  
  
+Alright. I'll get the Rangers on it right away. Think it could be the Dai'rak?+  
  
"Not sure. Could be a decoy. Tell them to be prepared for a hostile situation."  
  
+Copy that.+  
  
****************************  
  
+Rangers, there is a signal coming from the park. Morph and respond. Be prepared for hostile forces to show up soon after your arrival.+  
  
The others looked towards Tommy and Kimberly. Tensions bubbled between the married couple, and it was clear to the entire team.  
  
"Let's get going, man." Zack held his morpher ready. "We need to get out there."  
  
Tommy looked his wife straight in the eye. "You're staying here, Kimberly."  
  
"No, I'm not." The brunette squared her jaw indignantly. "Once we morph I'll be perfectly fine, Tommy. You're going to need all the help you can get."  
  
"You're not going to be at one hundred percent, Kim. I don't want anything to happen to you."  
  
"Will you stop worrying? I want a chance at the Dai'rak just as much as you do. This is just as much my problem as it is yours. Face it, Tommy. I'm going."  
  
"We don't have much time for trouble in paradise, so would the two passengers of the Love Boat please hurry up and set the damn sail?"  
  
Two equally powerful death glares were sent in Rocky's direction. Jason decided to take charge.  
  
"Alright, Kim's going, but she's going carefully." He turned to his 'little sister'. "Don't push yourself unless you know you can make it." His morpher materialized onto his wrist.   
  
"IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"  
  
****************************  
  
"I don't like this. He's being held back too long."  
  
She looked at her blonde companion. "Look, we have to get out of here. He knew the risks when he made the plan."  
  
The comment received her an incensed look. "I can't believe you're willing to just leave him like that!"  
  
"Hey, don't make me out to be the bad guy here. I'm just trying to save our asses while they're still worth saving!"  
  
"Then step away from the portal and let us do our job."  
  
Both women turned to the new voice and froze. Standing before them, in battle formation, were the six Rangers they had battled to near-death.  
  
****************************  
  
"Multiple energy signals closing in fast. We've gotta get them out of here, bro."  
  
"You got it, Jase." Tommy switched over from his helmet comm. "Ladies, if you'll just step away from the portal, we can get you out of here."  
  
"They're afraid. Something's got them spooked bad," Aisha explained. "It's almost like they recognize us, and that scares them."  
  
"There's a friend of ours still in there. We have to help him," the blonde woman explained. "We don't know what Sektarus has planned for him, but we need to get him out of there."  
  
Rocky stepped forward. "Don't worry. We'll take care of it. Just come with us and we'll get you help."  
  
"It's a little late for that, Rangers."  
  
They all saw the owner of the new voice, surrounded by Battalion members.  
  
It was the red-visored Dai'rak of Shadow.  
  
****************************  
  
Akeras howled as his limbs were severed from the restraints. The scream of pain eventually degenerated into a low growl as he kneeled before his commander. "Lord Sektarus...forgive me..."  
  
The black figure smashed a fist into him. "Silence! I have tolerated failure from others, but you...You are my most effective soldier. Explain to me why you have failed to keep the captives captive."  
  
"The male traitor, sire. He managed to steal power from his amulet and used it to shatter his restraints."  
  
Sektarus lifted the creature up. "You wish for a second chance, yes? A chance to take the light haired female as your slave and remove her companions?" Akeras nodded, slightly ashamed that his fantasies had been discovered. "Very well." A burst of dark light shone as the severed limbs reformed themselves on the lizard's body. Sektarus handed his soldier his stolen blaster. "Take a force. Search the desert. Find their base. Destroy it, and if you can, destroy them. Take what you wish, but leave Prince Trey alive. I want to deal with him personally."  
  
****************************  
  
The Dai'rak of Shadow brandished a katana, stepping forward and allowing a group of Battalion fighters to fall in behind him. "You have something that belongs to my lord." He pointed with his katana to the two women standing near the Rangers. "Return the traitors, and you get to live another day."  
  
"Listen to yourself!" the blonde shouted. "Do you even know what you're saying? You hate Sektarus as much as we do!"  
  
"Sektarus is my lord! And he will soon be yours, traitors."  
  
A hurt look came across her features. Tommy posed, battle ready. "Weapons up, everybody! Defensive maneuvers!"  
  
Rocky and Zack took positions near the ladies, using their signature staff and ax weaponry. Kimberly and Aisha staggered themselves just slightly away from the four and used a bow and cannon projectile combo to thin out the Battalion before they could reach them.  
  
Jason and Tommy closed in on the Dai'rak from both sides, swords at the ready.  
  
'He's only got one blade drawn.' Both of their brains made the note. 'But why? Getting a little cocky against two opponents...' The only other explanation would have been that he was protecting something, but that didn't make sense. What did he have to protect?  
  
That question was tucked back into the corner of their minds as they charged. Jason's attack was blocked and used to knock Tommy's weapon high while the Dai'rak swept the other Ranger's legs out from under him. Tommy flipped over his opponent and tried a fierce downward swing. It took enough force to block it that sparks flew from both blades.  
  
Meanwhile, Kimberly and Aisha had been forced back and joined Rocky and Zack in close combat around the two women. Static crackled over their helmet comms. "So, anybody care to tell me what Plan B is?" Nobody answered Rocky's question. "Hello? For crud's sake people, we can't hold them off forever. What is Plan B?!"  
  
"We're Rangers, man. There is no Plan B. You're lucky we even had a Plan A."  
  
"Not the response I was looking for, Zack."  
  
A sudden surge in the attacking forces pressed in on them. Kimberly lashed through them with an energy whip. Beams of black energy sliced through several bodies at a time while Aisha formed two large, bladed discs in her hands and began carving her way through anything that wasn't humanoid.  
  
The Dai'rak charged through the crowd and began heading straight for them, Tommy and Jason close on his heels. He leapt over Aisha and charged through before Rocky and Zack could respond. The Battalion crowded in and held the Rangers back as he knocked the black-haired girl to the ground with a solid blow to the temple and delivered a solid punch to the blonde's stomach, doubling her over. He pulled her head back by the hair and touched the point of his katana to her neck.  
  
"You're getting to be a lot of trouble. It's time you came back to served Lord Sektarus." She gave no reply except for a small wad of spit aimed directly at his crimson visor. "Very well." He unwrapped one of the chains from his wrist and held up the emblem attached to it. "I was hoping you would come willingly, but since that is not the case..."  
  
She saw the amulet coming closer to her forehead and prepared to struggle away. Even a cut throat was better than being forced into a morph again. But the pain she expected never came. Instead, she saw the Dai'rak's katana hand go limp and drop the weapon. She grabbed the amulet and twisted away, sweeping him to the ground and running to her friend.  
  
"Are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah, just a little dizzy. What happened?"  
  
"I think holding onto that energy needle burned his hand out." She held up the amulet. "I managed to get this."  
  
"Well, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and activate it!"  
  
Tommy and Zack ran by them in a blur, knocking down the Dai'rak and restraining his arms. Everyone felt the rush of teleportation, and soon the Rangers, the Dai'rak, and the two women were gone in a flash of black.  
  
****************************  
  
"Multiple signals starting at the edge of the desert. They've been moving in for the past several minutes."  
  
"Alright. I just brought the Rangers in. Looks like they've managed to get the Dai'rak."  
  
"I only see one."  
  
"In containment, yes. The other two amulets are deactivated for the moment. I think the two women have managed to break out of the mind control. We'll have to find out what caused it."  
  
Sigh. "Whatever you say, Trey. Just find out some answers before we have to entertain some very unwanted guests."  
  
****************************  
  
"Power down."  
  
Six flares of light revealed the Rangers in their true forms. Jason stepped forward and addressed the two women.  
  
"Hi. My name is Jason. I'm one of the leaders of the Rangers. This is Tommy, my co-leader; Kimberly, his wife; Zack, Aisha, and Rocky. Welcome to our base of operations."  
  
The blonde looked around. "It's very impressive. My name is Daniella. This is Sarè." The black-haired woman nodded. "We're the users of two of the Dai'rak amulets."  
  
Rocky's eyes widened in recognition at the blonde. "Holy....you're the one who kicked my ass?"  
  
Daniella turned her eyes downward, sheepish. "I'm afraid so. Please, it wasn't my fault. Sektarus had us under some sort of mind control whenever he made us morph. None of the damage we did was of our own free will."  
  
"Yeah, we kind of figured it was brain-tampering," Kimberly assured her. "Don't worry. It's all in the past. You could say we have a bit of a history with bad people turned good." She gave a sidelong glance at Tommy, who only rolled his eyes in a small showing of good humor. "Just tell us how we can help stop it."  
  
Sarè spoke up. "Just make him demorph. As soon as the energy of the amulet stops recycling the control Sektarus placed on it, Corran will stop."  
  
"Corran?"  
  
Daniella sighed. "He's my cousin. He was the first of us to volunteer for the project, before the invasion."  
  
"So you three make up the Dai'rak."  
  
Both of them turned to Tommy and nodded.  
  
"Okay. Rocky and Aisha, I want both of you to go down to the containment cell and force our guest to power down." He caught a glimpse of worry in Daniella's eyes. "Try to do it with minimal damage to anything in there." The two walked off to complete the orders. "Now, as for how we're going to deal with this..."  
  
"Rangers!" Everyone turned just as Trey walked into the chamber.  
  
"Prince Trey!" The two women kneeled before Trey, heads bowed.  
  
"Stand up. Both of you." He waited until both of them did so before looking them in the eye. "Formalities have no place here. We are all members of the same team now. That is, if you'll join us. We're going to need all the help against Sektarus' forces that we can get."  
  
Sarè grinned. "Any chance to nail that creep to the nearest black hole." Daniella nodded her agreement. "And Corran will agree with us."  
  
"Very well. Then your first mission is going to be one of those chances. A large group of Battalion members are searching the desert, probably looking for us."  
  
"So what do we do?" Zack asked.  
  
"We fight."  
  
A tall brown-haired man walked towards them. "I'm Corran." He looked at Trey, blue eyes meeting brown. "It's an honor to fight under your command, Prince Trey."  
  
Trey nodded. "Rangers, Dai'rak: Prepare yourselves. The battle's coming to us." 


	7. Changes

**_Disclaimer:_**_ Same as always. Sue me and you can have my spare pocket lint._

**_Author's Note_**_: Before we get started, I'd like to actually answer some of the reviews I've gotten lately. Not to particular names or anything, just general stuff. It has come to my attention that some believe me to be a "MMPR fascist". Now, this kind of bugs me. Yes, I do like the older teams a lot. Yes, I know I haven't given much thought to the other series. But that doesn't mean I don't respect them. As a matter of fact, I have plans for a lot of the other teams in the future. I just ask that anyone reading this series exercise their infinite patience that they have graced me with by still reading this, and you will enjoy what I have planned (I hope). Thank you, and enjoy!_

***PROXIMITY ALERT: HOSTILE FORCES...***

Trey silenced the alarm. "Alright. It looks like they're closing in from the edges, standard perimeter formation."

"So what do we do? This is a pretty big force to try a just breaking out and surrounding them."

Trey nodded. "I'm afraid it's going to take a lot more than a few clever maneuvers to take care of this situation. Life readings are high enough to make this attack something we _need_ to be worried about." There was a pause as both Rangers and _Dai'rak_ thought about the moment. Some of them had already faced situations similar to this before. Trey just put it into words. "We may have to abandon the Command Center."

Painful silence fell over the Rangers. Tommy and Rocky especially had remembered what had happened all those years ago, when Goldar and Rito had sneaked in and managed to detonate the entire upper level. Both of them never wanted to see something like that happen again.

"Well, what are we just standing here for?" Corran, the dirty blonde and only male member of the _Dai'rak_ asked. "Let's get out there and do some damage!"

Daniella, his blonde-haired cousin, reached up to put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm in." Their black-haired companion, Saré, nodded.

"Any chance for a rumble," she said with a grin.

"Then it's settled. Morphers up, everybody!" Jason started the call.

"IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"

Saré, Corran, and Daniella stood shoulder to shoulder, eyes closed. Energy collected in the amulets around their necks and began to glow.

"ENERGY!" Saré's call brought forth a burst of black lightning that crackled from the amulet across her entire body, solidifying into her dark armor and green visor.

"SHADOW!" Corran's armor appeared as if it were rising straight from his dark reflection on the ground, wrapping itself around his body tightly until it hardened into form. His red visor practically glared on its own.

"ILLUSION!" Waves seemed to pulse from Daniella's mind as her armor formed, purple visor sparkling.

Nine flashes of black signaled their teleportation to battle.

******************************

"It's bad, isn't it?" Trey nodded. "What should I do?"

He was surprised. It was one of the few times his companion ever asked for help. He got so used to not having to be the leader in this area that he almost couldn't remember the answer. "Download every file you can find. Get as much as you can before they get here."

"You don't think the Rangers can hold them off, even with the _Dai'rak_?"

"This force, yes. But Sektarus knows at least part of our location. He won't stop now, which means that we can't stop until it is absolutely necessary. Now get to those files. We need as much information as possible."

"I'm on it."

******************************

Nine streaks of black materialized outside, contrasting sharply against the orange-yellow of the desert. Tommy and Jason stepped out and looked back at the group.

"Alright, everybody, we're pairing off. We've got three additional members," Tommy indicated the _Dai'rak_, "so you might wind up with somebody you haven't worked with before. Line 'em up, Jason."

"Kimberly and Zack, you've got North Sector. Aisha and Daniella take the East Sector. Saré and Corran are on the West Sector. Rocky, Tommy, and myself are going to cover the South Sector, where the majority of the attack is coming. Try not to move from your post unless you've finished off anything that's not even remotely human, but don't try to be heroes. This isn't the time. If you're forced to fall back, _go_. Any questions?" Silence. "Then move out!"

******************************

Zack came out of teleportation with his axe swinging wildly, but not blindly. His dancer's mind automatically catalogued all movement around him and processed how to work through it. Gloved hands held tightly to the axe as it spun and slashed. Arrow after arrow embedded itself in the creatures around him. Kimberly fired them off almost as fast as one could blink.

******************************

Aisha leapt from the remains of a teleportation beam with Daniella hot on her heels. She grabbed one beast by the throat, using its body as a vault and then projectile as it was thrown into the oncoming crowd. Daniella jumped over her and fired several blasts from her staff that pushed a few more monsters back. They continued like this, leapfrogging their way through a small part of the group, the rear member holding off any attackers that decided to circle around. It took very little time for them to be surrounded, but that only made them fight harder. That only allowed them to kill even more.

******************************

Corran and Saré charged their targets with the same speed and ferocity fueling their muscles. Corran withdrew one katana, cutting the head off of the first minion he came to. He drew the other to take a second's legs out from under him, then twirled the first katana in his hand and drove it into the fallen creature's back. His leg lashed out to kick away an attack before bringing his katana from the ground and nearly slicing the beast in half.

Saré, meanwhile, had lashed out against the cluster that surrounded her with several kicks and punches that blurred into a single blast of movement and strength. No one had even known she had drawn her daggers until open wounds from the Battalion began spitting forth blood. Energy crackled around her just before lightning burst from her armor and crackled through nearly seventy of the brutes. 

They fought together in concentrated silence, but the same thought echoed through their minds. _'A few down, only a few thousand to go.'_

******************************

Rocky, Jason, and Tommy appeared before the immense gathering of beasts armed and ready. No words were spoken as they quickly marched themselves at least thirty yards apart. Once the three of them were positioned, they waited.

Six eyes glared back into hundreds of ravenous stares.

Three jaws clenched in determination, while thousands of teeth gnashed in pure hatred.

Seventy hulking bodies of slimy muscle charged.

And seventy corpses of flash-fried bodies fell to the ground.

All three Rangers stood still, positioned like rocks. Energy still crackled around them from the immense blast they had exerted in a group effort.

"That was interesting."

The other two men laughed at Rocky's comment, then braced themselves. It appeared the dead monsters' friends didn't quite appreciate what had been done to their comrades.

"Charge on three?"

"On three."

They leaned forward, shoulders down in an almost football-like stance. The Battalion in front of them growled, brandishing their weapons.

"THREE!"

******************************

Trey grabbed the discs that were handed to him and stuffed them in a nearby bag. "How much of the Command Center's database have you gotten?"

"About forty-five percent. There's a lot of data in here."

He checked a viewscreen which currently displayed a streaming video feed of the battles outside. "Is there any way you can speed the process up?"

"Not without taking down our signal shields, but if we do that then Sektarus will know exactly where we are."

His eyes studied the screen intensely. Options weighed heavy in his mind. _'If I take the shield down, there will be no reason for the battle to continue so far away. The Battalion could easily teleport themselves here. And with our computer tied up in accessing and storing the entire Command Center archives, we might not have enough power to teleport the Rangers back fast enough to hold them off. Then again, if the Battalion doesn't know our exact location, they would be more willing to focus on eliminating one problem at a time...'_ If only there weren't so many possibilities!

"I'm picking up something....Oh no. It's Akeras."

Trey's eyes widened. "That can't be!" His companion nodded.

"He's out there, and it looks like he's heading for Daniella and Aisha."

"Open a wide-beam channel. I don't care who else picks this up, so long as you can get those two some help!"

******************************

Aisha slammed her fist into a creature's stomach, and then corrected her stance to prepare for the next attack. She was surprised when it never came. Instead, it looked like the monsters were backing away.

"Hey, what's going on?" Daniella moved to her side, waving her staff a few times. "Who blew the whistle?"

"**He did."**

She looked where the _Dai'rak_ was pointing her staff. Making his way from amidst the army of beasts was a scaled, lizard-like creation with wickedly curved claws and a musculature that made Arnold Schwarzeneggar on steroids appear dwarfish by comparison.

"Akeras," Daniella growled. "What do you want?"

"I want only what my Lord Sektarus wishes. And when that is accomplished..." His reptilian mouth almost seemed to leer at her. "I will take of the spoils what **I** wish."

Inwardly, the _Dai'rak_ of Illusion suppressed a shudder. "I have had enough from you. The only thing your scaly hide will get from this is the most agonizing thrashing known to this planet!"

Aisha hung back for a mere second before following Daniella as she charged for Akeras. Members of the Battalion started edging in around them. It was clear that this was not going to be a fair fight, so she morphed the armor covering her forearms into two sharp, deadly blades. Normally she would have preferred simply morphing a set into existence using her Powers, but this situation called for longevity instead of raw power. Something that already existed had a better chance of surviving the fight, and it wouldn't incapacitate her like it had Jason during one of their fights against the _Dai'rak. _

Daniella clashed her staff against Akeras' arms so forcefully that sparks actually flew from the beast's scales. He pushed the weapon away and delivered a spinning backhand aimed at her midsection. It was blocked with the center of the staff while one end was driven into his side, a burst of energy burning itself into his hide. Battalion members swarmed in as he backed away, and Aisha came to her aid with a powerful surge of slicing and dicing that cut several of them apart. The occasional energy blast from her staff knocked through more of her opponents as she tried to make her way back to Akeras.

Unfortunately, **he was the one who found ****her first.**

Excruciating pain burned in a diagonal path up her back. White lights flew across her vision as the agony exploded near the base of her skull. She could feel the backside of her armor cracking and air beginning to rush inside.

Aisha increased the amount of power she used and fought harder to get out of the Battalion members that had hemmed her in. Nearly every one of them within sight was focused on surrounding the area, either to keep her busy or make sure nothing interfered with the battle. Either way, she was too outmatched to come to Daniella's aid.

And so Akeras stood above Daniella's body, leaning close to her. "It is fortunate for you that my lord has promised your captivity to me. Otherwise you would have become yet another corpse needlessly lost."

His speech was followed by a shrill sound and a small explosion as a small missile launched itself into his back, sending him flying straight into the mass of Battalion monsters. Zack blasted his way through and cleared a path for Aisha to join them.

"I left Kimberly on an overhang. She should be able to hold them off for a while, but it's getting rough out here." Several flashes of bright pink shined in the distance. "Aisha, get Daniella out of here. We need to get out of this sector." He armed his axe. "Get her over to the north side. I'll follow you there." Several shotgun-style blasts shot from his weapon. "See if you can get Kim to follow you. If we get separated, head for the Command Center."

Aisha helped Daniella up and put an arm around her waist for support. "But what about the others? Don't they need to know?"

Another blast. "Trey just sent out a broad signal. I'm sure they got it. Now move!"

*****************************

"Aisha, Zack, and Daniella are retreating to the North Sector. Akeras looks like he's a little disoriented, but I don't know how long that'll slow him down."

Trey took the disk that was handed to him. "How far along are we?"

"Sixty-seven percent. If we cut the shield then I can get the rest in about ten minutes."

He had been putting off the decision, hoping they could hold out a little longer. _'Time's running out. I need to make a decision **now.'  "Alright. Drop the shield."**_

"Whoa….What the hell is this?"

"What?"

"Take a look. You're not going to believe this…

Trey checked the diagnostic screen, watching as schematics and information flashed by. His eyes widened.

"Oh my god…"

*****************************

Jason brought his sword down hard on a monster's head. "Man, there's just no end to these guys!" He caught sight of Tommy and Rocky fighting off a small crowd in order to get to him.

"Let's move it, bro!" Tommy yelled. "Time to step back!"

_'What the…? Does he mean we're retreating?'_ "Tommy, we can still hold these guys back!"

"There's no **time!" Rocky shouted at him. "Daniella's been hit hard and Kimberly's going to be overrun! We have to fall back!"**

They were together now, still managing to knock back anything that came close enough to be hit. Jason gripped his weapon even tighter as he thought about the situation. _'If we go back, they'll find the Command Center. What do we do then? But if we keep fighting, odds are we could wind up hurt…or worse.' He felt Tommy's hand on his shoulder._

"C'mon, bro. We can't win this one."

Mentally cursing every higher power he could think of, Jason followed his fellow Rangers.

*****************************

Saré slowed as a transmission reached her comm. She blasted a group of Battalion fighters away before signaling to Corran. "Hey! We gotta go!"

He spun in a full 360, katana out like a blender. "What for? We're holding them off!"

"East and South Sectors are being evacuated! There's too many of them!"

"We can handle this!"

"Daniella's been **hurt**, Corran! We have to get back!"

Corran froze. Almost imperceptibly, the grip on his katana tightened. _'Uh-oh,'_ Saré thought. _'I've seen that stance before.'_

He let out a wild scream before attacking everything in sight with reckless abandon. His armor was a dark blur as he dove into the ground, vanishing into the shadows of everyone around him, only to rise from them, attack with a vicious strike, then disappear again.

Saré let out a sigh. _'We don't have time for this!'_ She half-shut her eyes and began focusing, imagining the power contained in her amulet growing. Her eyes opened, and an immense beam of dark green energy devastated the crowd. She stumbled forward and grabbed Corran's arm.

"Let's get out of here."

*****************************

Kimberly dropped behind a boulder, trying to catch her breath. She had been firing arrows nonstop for the past thirty minutes. It was beginning to take its toll on her arms as well as her mind. Trying to generate enough energy to keep fighting was seriously tiring her out.

She was about to stand again and continue firing when a volley of energy blasts knocked out the first line before her.

"Kimberly! Let's roll, girl!"

She began backing towards Aisha's voice, pushing her tiring muscles to keep launching arrow after arrow. Zack's cannon kept giving her cover fire until she made it. Then they ran.

*****************************

"They're retreating, and the Battalion is finding their way here." There was a pressing silence. It was the quiet of loss, of defeat.

Of failure.

"I've got all of the data, Trey. What do we do now?"

He sighed. So many chances…so many possibilities…What should he do? What **could** he do? His thoughts found their way back to the discs, to what they had found.

"Prepare to teleport."


End file.
